We put one airplane on Iwo Jima where we had previously built a pit because these bombs had to be loaded from a pit. Plans for the mission over Hiroshima with Colonel Paul Tibbets, then age 28. I have learned that we who lived the events of history have an obligation to preserve and report upon the facts.” As the man who commanded the last atomic mission, I pray that I retain that singular distinction. In 1945 we dropped bombs that were primitive in comparison to nuclear weapons today. It is my fervent hope that there will never be another atomic mission. “I began to focus my outrage by speaking out against any revision of events as they actually happened in the context of the war. To quote from the script of that planned exhibit: ‘For most Japanese, it was a war to defend their unique culture against Western imperialism.’ The exhibit of the Enola Gay originally proposed by the Smithsonian - an exhibit that would be viewed by millions of Americans who would undoubtedly accept it as a factual representation of the war - was for me the final insult to the truth.
Suddenly I was hearing that Americans had been the aggressors and the Japanese had been the victims. “With the fiftieth anniversary of the war’s end approaching, I found myself feeling outraged and betrayed when not only our national museum, the Smithsonian Institution, but some American historians as well attempted to change the history of the war in the Pacific. Who could question that the forces who had brought the war upon us were evil? Who could doubt that our actions vanquished foes who were guilty of unspeakable brutalities against humanity in the name of conquest, foes who refused to surrender even after unprecedented destruction was rained upon them from the skies in the unrelenting B-29 fire-bombing missions over Japanese cities? Such persons emerged in the summer of 1944. In his memoir, War’s End, he says, “I did not doubt for a moment that the historical facts spoke to themselves. In the half century since the war, Sweeney describes himself as “largely silent” about the atomic missions, out of deference to General Paul Tibbets, the leader of the 509th Composite Group, to serve as spokesman and the general culture of secrecy that surrounded the missions.
Nor did most people then, who lived through the escalating terror of that now-distant war in the Pacific.” Sweeney retired from the military as Major General in May 1976. I never questioned President Truman’s decision to use every weapon at his disposal to end the bloody conflict - nor do I now. “It was as simple and as complicated as that. The Japanese military surrendered on August 14, 1945, ending World War II. On August 9 Sweeney piloted the B-29 that dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki for which he was awarded the Silver Star.
ENOLA GAY PILOTS SUICIDE FREE
On August 9, Sweeney commanded his first combat mission to Nagasaki, carrying a live 10,300-pound plutonium bomb, which had never been tested free falling from an airplane before it was loaded into the bomb bay of the Bock’s Car the evening of August 8, 1945. But if it works, it just might end the war.’ None of us, I remember, was entirely sure of what that bomb would do to its target or to us.”
We can’t get it back, whether it works or not. As the bomb fell free, I thought, ‘It’s too late now. “I watched as the Enola Gay’s bomb bay doors snapped open and the 9,000-pound uranium bomb was released. In May 1945 Major Sweeney became Commander of the 393rd Bombardment Squardron and on August 6 carried the scientific instruments on the right wing of the B-29 Enola Gay to Hiroshima. What, then, will future generations be told about America’s role in the war in the Pacific? Who will be left to give an accurate firsthand account?”īackground: In 1944 Charles Sweeney was selected to train all aircrews assigned to Project Silverplate, part of the Manhattan Project. “One day, those of us who fought the war - who were eye witnesses to it - will no longer be here to set the record straight. He was prompted by revisionist accounts at the fiftieth anniversary of the ending of World War II to write about his experiences in the book War’s End. (Ret.)Īt age 25, Charles Sweeney was the only pilot to be part of the atomic missions at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Concord Oral History Program - Major General Charles W.