Theodore Van Kirk said dropping the atomic
bomb on Japan saved lives but he also thought
the bombs should be abolished .
The last surviving crew member of the Enola
Gay , the US bomber that dropped the first
atomic bomb on Japan in 1945 , hastening the
end of World War II and moving the world into
the atomic age , has died at age 93 .
Theodore " Dutch " Van Kirk died of natural
causes on Monday at a retirement community
in the US state of Georgia , his son Tom Van
Kirk said .
Van Kirk said he had "no regrets" about the
mission and defended its morality, saying it
helped to end the Second World War.
Van Kirk navigated the flight that dropped
" Little Boy" on Hiroshima on August 6 , 1945 .
The bomb instantly killed about 78 , 000 people.
By the end of 1945 , the number of dead had
reached about 140 , 000 out of an estimated
population of 350 , 000 .
Three days later , the United States dropped
an atomic bomb nicknamed " Fat Man " on
Nagasaki . Japan surrendered on August
15 , 1945 , bringing World War II to an end .
The Pennsylvania -born Van Kirk flew missions
in Europe during the war and visited Nagasaki
in the aftermath of the atomic blast there .
He studied chemical engineering after the war
and became an executive with DuPont .
He said the Hiroshima mission was relatively
easy , with no anti- aircraft fire coming from
the ground . The big worry was whether the
plane would blow up after the bomb
detonated , he told Georgia Public
Broadcasting .
He said that 43 seconds after the bomb was
dropped , he saw a flash from the blast . A
shockwave then came and shook the aircraft.
Whether the United States should have used
the atomic bomb has been debated ever since .
Van Kirk told the Associated Press news
agency that he thought it was necessary
because it shortened the war and eliminated
the need for an Allied land invasion that could
have cost more lives on both sides.
" I honestly believe the use of the atomic bomb
saved lives in the long run . There were a lot
of lives saved . Most of the lives saved were
Japanese , '' Van Kirk said
Wars don ' t work
But it also made him wary of war .
" The whole World War II experience shows
that wars don ' t settle anything . And atomic
weapons don 't settle anything , '' he said . " I
personally think there shouldn' t be any atomic
bombs in the world, I'd like to see them all
abolished . "
Van Kirk stayed on with the military for a
year after the war ended . Then he went to
school, earned degrees in chemical
engineering and signed on with DuPont , where
he stayed until he retired in 1985 .
Like many World War II veterans , Van Kirk did
not talk much about his service until much
later in his life when he spoke to school
groups , his son said .
" I didn ' t even find out that he was on that
mission until I was 10 years old and read some
old news clippings in my grandmother ' s attic, ''
Tom Van Kirk said .
" I know he was recognised as a war hero , but
we just knew him as a great father, '' he said .

.

Survived atomic bomb but succumbed to age. Rip.

Hnnnnm....
148,000 lives?
I shouldnt say rip ooo..

He was a military man...NoQualms

He is among the messengers of death that wreaked havoc on humanity , truly the bombings brought a quick end to the war but does that justify the terror of using atomic weapons on humans ? He will never rest in peace

America terrorising the world like BH terrorising nigeria

..it's all right because it's all white.