Brig. Gen. Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr…War Hero or War Criminal ?
On November 1st, 2007, Brigadier General Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. United States Air Force passed away. He was 92 years old….
On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay departed Tinian Island in the Marianas with Tibbets at the controls at 2:45 a.m. for Hiroshima, Japan(C.I.A. link). The atomic bomb, codenamed Little Boy, was dropped over Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. local time, killing about 140,000 Japanese, with many more dying later.
click here to see the atomic bombing of Hiroshima
click here to see an interesting video showing a live test atomic bombing that took place in the Bikini Island area….
On August 6, 1945, 8.15 am, the uranium atom bomb exploded 580 metres above the city of Hiroshima with a blinding flash, creating a giant fireball and sending surface temperatures to 4,000C. Fierce heat rays and radiation burst out in every direction, unleashing a high pressure shockwave, vaporising tens of thousands of people and animals, melting buildings and streetcars, reducing a 400-year-old city to dust.
(image and above information source)
Paul Tibbets-2003
click here to see the video “Paul Tibbets talks about the Hiroshima bombing”
click here to see the Smithsonian channel video of Paul Tibbets speaking about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima…
By August 8, 1945, newspapers in the US were reporting that broadcasts from Radio Tokyo had described the destruction observed in Hiroshima. “Practically all living things, human and animal, were literally seared to death,” Japanese radio announcers said in a broadcast captured by Allied sources.[17]
(source of image and above information)
In 1945 the BBC reported the following regarding the Nuclear bombing of Hiroshima….
1945: US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima
The first atomic bomb has been dropped by a United States aircraft on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
President Harry S Truman, announcing the news from the cruiser, USS Augusta, in the mid-Atlantic, said the device was more than 2,000 times more powerful than the largest bomb used to date.An accurate assessment of the damage caused has so far been impossible due to a huge cloud of impenetrable dust covering the target. Hiroshima is one of the chief supply depots for the Japanese army.
The bomb was dropped from an American B-29 Superfortress, known as Enola Gay, at 0815 local time. The plane’s crew say they saw a column of smoke rising and intense fires springing up.
The President said the atomic bomb heralded the “harnessing of the basic power of the universe”. It also marked a victory over the Germans in the race to be first to develop a weapon using atomic energy.
President Truman went on to warn the Japanese the Allies would completely destroy their capacity to make war.
The Potsdam declaration issued 10 days ago, which called for the unconditional surrender of Japan, was a last chance for the country to avoid utter destruction, the President said.
“If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on Earth. Behind this air attack will follow by sea and land forces in such number and power as they have not yet seen, but with fighting skill of which they are already aware.”
The British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who has replaced Winston Churchill at Number 10, read out a statement prepared by his predecessor to MPs in the Commons.
It said the atomic project had such great potential the government felt it was right to pursue the research and to pool information with atomic scientists in the US.
As Britain was considered within easy reach of Germany and its bombers, the decision was made to set up the bomb-making plants in the US.
The statement continued: “By God’s mercy, Britain and American science outpaced all German efforts. These were on a considerable scale, but far behind. The possession of these powers by the Germans at any time might have altered the result of the war.”
Mr Churchill’s statement said considerable efforts had been made to disrupt German progress – including attacks on plants making constituent parts of the bomb.
He ended: “We must indeed pray that these awful agencies will be made to conduce peace among the nations and that instead of wreaking measureless havoc upon the entire globe they become a perennial fountain of world prosperity.”
click here to see the BBC video regarding the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki….
Enola Gay’s crew on 6 August 1945 consisted of 12 men:
Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. – aircraft commander
Captain Robert A. Lewis – co-pilot, Enola Gay’s assigned aircraft commander*
Major Thomas Ferebee – bombardier
Captain Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk – navigator
U.S. Navy Captain William S. “Deak” Parsons – weaponeer and bomb commander
Lieutenant Jacob Beser – radar countermeasures (also the only man to fly on both nuclear bombing aircraft)
Second Lieutenant Morris R. Jeppson – assistant weaponeer
Technical Sergeant George R. “Bob” Caron – tail gunner*
Technical Sergeant Wyatt E. Duzenberry – flight engineer*
Sergeant Joe S. Stiborik – radar*
Sergeant Robert H. Shumard – assistant flight engineer*
Private First Class Richard M. Nelson – radio operator*
(source of above information)
Van Kirk,Tibbets, and Thomas Ferebee(source)
Morris R. Jeppson(source)
Although Brigadier General Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. and his crew actually dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima they were merely “errand boys, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.”
The man who had the final say and who pulled the trigger on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was U.S.A President Harry S. Truman….
On July 26, 1945 Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek issued a statement which outlined the terms of surrender for Japan as agreed upon at the Potsdam
Conference….
click here to hear Winston Churchill’s famous “We Shall Fight Them On The Beaches” speech…
The proclamation stated that the full force of the British Empire, the United States of America,and National Government of the Republic of China would strike the final blows upon Japan.
“We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.”
“…The might that now converges on Japan is immeasurably greater than that which, when applied to the resisting Nazis, necessarily laid waste to the lands, the industry and the method of life of the whole German people. The full application of our military power, backed by our resolve, will mean the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland…”Furthermore:
Militarism in Japan must end.
Japan would be occupied until the basic objectives set out in this proclamation were met.
The terms of the Cairo Declaration would be carried out and Japanese sovereignty would be limited to the islands of Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū, Shikoku, and such minor islands as the Allies determined.
The Japanese army would be completely disarmed and allowed to return home.
Those who had led Japan to war must be permanently and finally discredited, and abandoned.
War criminals would be punished including those who had “visited cruelties upon our prisoners”.
Freedom of speech, of religion, and of thought, as well as respect for the fundamental human rights shall be established.
Japan should be permitted to maintain a viable industrial economy but not industries which would enable her to re-arm for war.
The treaty was not intended to enslave the Japanese as a race or as a nation.
Allied forces would be withdrawn from Japan as soon as these objectives have been accomplished
On July 29, 1945 Japanese Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki declared at a press conference that the Potsdam Declaration was no more than a “yakinaoshi” (rehash) of the Cairo Declaration and that the government intended to “mokusatsu” (ignore) it…..
Emperor Hirohito, who was waiting for a Soviet reply to noncommittal Japanese peace feelers, made no move to change the government position…..
Click here to see the BBC Timewatch video – Emperor Hirohito(Aka Second Adolf Hitler)1/6
Click here to see the BBC Timewatch video – Emperor Hirohito(Aka Second Adolf Hitler)2/6
Click here to see the BBC Timewatch video – Emperor Hirohito(Aka Second Adolf Hitler)3/6
Click here to see the BBC Timewatch video – Emperor Hirohito(Aka Second Adolf Hitler)4/6
Click here to see the BBC Timewatch video – Emperor Hirohito(Aka Second Adolf Hitler)5/6
Click here
to see the BBC Timewatch video – Emperor Hirohito(Aka Second Adolf Hitler)6/6
The following 7/25/45 entry from the personal diary of U.S.A. “The Buck Stops Here” President Harry S. Truman shows some insight into his decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan…
. We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark.
“Anyway we ‘think’ we have found the way to cause a disintegration of the atom. An experiment in the New Mexican desert was startling – to put it mildly. Thirteen pounds of the explosive caused the complete disintegration of a steel tower 60 feet high, created a crater 6 feet deep and 1,200 feet in diameter, knocked over a steel tower 1/2 mile away and knocked men down 10,000 yards away. The explosion was visible for more than 200 miles and audible for 40 miles and more.
“The weapon is to be used against Japan between now and August 10th. I have told the Sec. of War, Mr. Stimson, to use it so that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children. Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop this terrible bomb on the old capital or the new [Kyoto or Tokyo].
He [Stimson] and I are in accord. The target will be a purely military one and we will issue a warning statement [known as the Potsdam Proclamation] asking the Japs to surrender and save lives. I’m sure they will not do that, but we will have given them the chance. It is certainly a good thing for the world that Hitler’s crowd or Stalin’s did not discover this atomic bomb. It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful.”
click here to hear Truman speak about using the Atom Bomb…Below are his exact words….
“Having found the atomic bomb we have used it….We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan’s power to make war….Only a Japanese surrender will stop us…
It is an awful responsibility which has come to us…
We thank G-d that it has come to us…Instead of to our enemies…
And we pray that he may guide us to use it in his ways and for his purposes…
A victim of DU, born with no nose, mouth, eyes, anus or genitals and with flipper limbs, a common result of radiation exposure in utero. Photo by Karen Robinson
Click here to see the video “Give ‘em Hell” Harry truman speak about Communism…
2008 U.S.A. Republican Presidential Election candidate John McCain(source of images)
John McCain as a baby(source)
click here to see and hear John McCain state his views on Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan…..
White
(source)
House Press Release on Hiroshima
Statement by the President of the United States
(source)
Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British “Grand Slam” which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.
The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold. And the end is not yet. With this bomb we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces. In their present form these bombs are now in production and even more powerful forms are in development.
It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.
Before 1939, it was the accepted belief of scientists that it was theoretically possible to release atomic energy. But no one knew any practical method of doing it. By 1942, however, we knew that the Germans were working feverishly to find a way to add atomic energy to the other engines of war with which they hoped to enslave the world. But they failed. We may be grateful to Providence that the Germans got the V-1′s and the V-2′s late and in limited quantities and even more grateful that they did not get the atomic bomb at all.
The battle of the laboratories held fateful risks for us as well as the battles of the air, land and sea, and we have now won the battle of the laboratories as we have won the other battles.
Beginning in 1940, before Pearl Harbor, scientific knowledge useful in war was pooled between the United States and Great Britain, and many priceless helps to our victories have come from that arrangement. Under that general policy the research on the atomic bomb was begun. With American and British scientists working together we entered the race of discovery against the Germans.
The United States had available the large number of scientists of distinction in the many needed areas of knowledge. It had the tremendous industrial and financial resources necessary for the project and they could be devoted to it without undue impairment of other vital war work. In the United States the laboratory work and the production plants, on which a substantial start had already been made, would be out of reach of enemy bombing, while at that time Britain was exposed to constant air attack and was still threatened with the possibility of invasion. For these reasons Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt agreed that it was wise to carry on the project here. We now have two great plants and many lesser works devoted to the production of atomic power. Employment during peak construction numbered 125,000 and over 65,000 individuals are even now engaged in operating the plants. Many have worked there for two and a half years. Few know what they have been producing. They see great quantities of material going in and they see nothing coming out of these plants, for the physical size of the explosive charge is exceedingly small. We have spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history – we won.
But the greatest marvel is not the size of the enterprise, its secrecy, nor its cost, but the achievement of scientific brains in putting together infinitely complex pieces of knowledge held by many men in different fields of science into a workable plan. And hardly less marvelous has been the capacity of industry to design, and of labor to operate, the machines and methods to do things never done before so that the brain child of many minds came forth in physical shape and performed as it was supposed to do. Both science and industry worked under the direction of the United States Army, which achieved a unique success in managing so diverse a problem in the advancement of knowledge in an amazingly short time. It is doubtful if such another combination could be got together in the world. What has been done is the greatest achievement of organized science in history. It was done under high pressure and without failure.
We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan’s power to make war.
It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.
The Secretary of War, who has kept in personal touch with all phases of this project, will immediately make public a statement giving further details.
His statement will give facts concerning the sites of Oak Ridge near Knoxville, Tennessee, and at Richland near Pasco, Washington, and an installation near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although the workers at the sites have been making materials to be used in producing the greatest destructive force in history they have not themselves been in danger beyond that of many other occupations, for the utmost care has been taken of their safety.
The fact that we can release atomic energy ushers in a new era in man’s understanding of nature’s forces. Atomic energy may in the future supplement the power that now comes from coal, oil, and falling water, but at present it cannot be produced on a basis to compete with them commercially. Before that comes there must be a long period of intensive research.
It has never been the habit of the scientists of this country or the policy of the Government to withhold from the world scientific knowledge. Normally, therefore, everything about the work with atomic energy would be made public.
But under present circumstances it is not intended to divulge the technical processes of production or all the military applications, pending further examination of possible methods of protecting us and the rest of the world from the danger of sudden destruction. I shall recommend that the Congress of the United States consider promptly the establishment of an appropriate commission to control the production and use of atomic power within the United States. I shall give further consideration and make further recommendations to the Congress as to how atomic power can become a powerful and forceful influence towards the maintenance of world peace.
(source)
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(source of Hitler-Mussolini image)
Why the bomb was needed or justified:
The Japanese had demonstrated near-fanatical resistance, fighting to almost the last man on Pacific islands, committing mass suicide on Saipan and unleashing kamikaze attacks at Okinawa. Fire bombing had killed 100,000 in Tokyo with no discernible political effect. Only the atomic bomb could jolt Japan’s leadership to surrender.
With only two bombs ready (and a third on the way by late August 1945) it was too risky to “waste” one in a demonstration over an unpopulated area.
An invasion of Japan would have caused casualties on both sides that could easily have exceeded the toll at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The two targeted cities would have been firebombed anyway.
Immediate use of the bomb convinced the world of its horror and prevented future use when nuclear stockpiles were far larger.
The bomb’s use impressed the Soviet Union and halted the war quickly enough that the USSR did not demand joint occupation of Japan.
(source)
Why the bomb was not needed, or unjustified:
Japan was ready to call it quits anyway. More than 60 of its cities had been destroyed by conventional bombing, the home islands were being blockaded by the American Navy, and the Soviet Union entered the war by attacking Japanese troops in Manchuria.
American refusal to modify its “unconditional surrender” demand to allow the Japanese to keep their emperor needlessly prolonged Japan’s resistance.
A demonstration explosion over Tokyo harbor would have convinced Japan’s leaders to quit without killing many people.
Even if Hiroshima was necessary, the U.S. did not give enough time for word to filter out of its devastation before bombing Nagasaki.
The bomb was used partly to justify the $2 billion spent on its development.
The two cities were of limited military value. Civilians outnumbered troops in Hiroshima five or six to one.
Japanese lives were sacrificed simply for power politics between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Conventional firebombing would have caused as much significant damage without making the U.S. the first nation to use nuclear weapons.
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(Hess Nuremberg trial image source)
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(Goering image source)
What Do You Think ?……
Didn’t know the Japanese were about to surrender anyway. This fact makes the bombings even more senseless and invalidates claims that it was a sacrifice to save many more lives. Those pictures are horrific. I’m amazed by how much harm can be inflicted so casually.
http://palcopiniao.blogspot.com/search/label/C%C3%82MARA%20MUNICIPAL%20DE%20COIMBRA%20URBANISMO
your blog is tremendous. The facts, I mean and the blog too.
Thanks for sharing this post. The pictures and videos were great. I just can’t imagine what these people went through. Here’s my blog. maybe you can’t check and leave some comments too.
I hate wars,wars kill a lot of innocent world citizen.WAR is because of hatred and greedy,these is a human the most stupidness.I used to present about peace talk during my study and my academy organizaton.We have to start from ourself to educate our young generation.Lets make a better place!
I’ve always felt that the A-Bombs were a HUGE war crime, and you can be sure that Tibbets and Truman would have been treated as such, it the other side had won. I DID know that the Japanese were about to surrender, the ONLY reason the second bomb was dropped was so the Americans could see which one would be more effective of the 2….not surprising that the first Americans on the scene were there only to collect that data!
Hi I am in possesion of original photos from the execusion on Mussolini and other people from which I inheritad if anyone could contact me on email jimibienator@gmail.com I’d like to sell them
War Hero or War Criminal? If I were assigned to fly it I’ll obey, PERIOD! What difference does it make? If I were ordered to fly it but didn’t obey, I would have been court-martialed, stripped of my rank, rot in jail!
Why are there photos of John McCain on this page? What the hell does he have to do with any of this?
The lesson here is that “WE THE PEOPLE” should never allow our elected leaders to become our masters. Not now, not ever.
There is no honour in war, those that declare it never fight in it, or suffer the sacrifices and pay the ultimate price.
As we can see in the Middle East today, when the leaders act against the common good it is incumbant upon “The People” to take action.
Politics in the West today is currently corrupted to the point whereby we the people need to protest at actions being taken against our wishes across the world in our name.
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I love the depth you went into with this, and the use of strong images which have to invoke emotion to anyone seeing them.
I also think we should have found a better solution.