Folks:

The pilot of the US bomber Enola Gay, which in 1945 dropped the first nuclear bomb to be detonated in wartime, died today at the age of 92.

Paul Tibbets was in command of the B-29 aircraft, which dropped the five-ton "Little Boy" bomb over Hiroshima as the US tried to end the second world war without a ground invasion of Japan.
Up to 100,000 people are estimated to have died in the explosion.

Mr Tibbets requested no funeral or headstone because he feared they would attract protesters. In 2005, he said he wanted his ashes scattered over the English Channel, where he had enjoyed flying during the war.

Most people will not know that from 1938 through 1940, while at Fort Benning, Tibbets met George Patton, then a Lieutenant Colonel, and destined to become the world-famous tank General in World War Two. While Tibbets was a lowly Second Lieutenant, they went skeet shooting together. Patton was a fierce competitor and "screamed in fury" at the few quarters he lost competing against Tibbets.

There is much controversy today over the use of the atom bomb. War itself is a horrific, brutal, misery causing business. There is honor and there is bravery and there is self sacrifice but there is nothing noble about war itself.

Before the first bomb was dropped, Japan had already lost her war and knew it. The Emperor would not surrender until the last Japanese had died defending him. Hell, it took two A-bombs to make up his mind. Tens of thousands of Allied troops would have shed their lives and that of countless thousands of Japanese taking the islands of Japan. And take it they certainly would have. Each of us must look at the facts and decide for himself what was best. Better no A-bomb, I agree with that, however, IMHO better yet no Pearl Harbor, better yet no Bataan death march, better yet no Iwo Jima or Tariwa... better yet no war at all.