General Tibbets Goes West

"Gatt" wrote in message
...
He was 92. God speed, General.

Damn. Another fine one of the great generation gone.

Guys like him are pretty dang tough to come by.

I always wondered how well he slept at night long after the war.

Not saying what he did was wrong, but, so many men of virtue who knew they
were fighting the good fight or who had no choice but to kill are haunted
by their war. The pilot of my grandfather's plane never talked about it
to his family, and the co-pilot shut down to the point where he refused to
believe--he got angry at the suggestion--that there were ever B-17s that
weren't olive drab when I spoke with him a few years ago. One of the
officers later committed suicide. Very brave men who did what they had to
do, but couldn't bear to remember.

To be reminded of that every time the History Channel or somebody talked
about dropping The Bomb must have weighed heavy on the old warrior. May
he rest in eternal peace.


I had heard years ago that Tibbet's bombardier had taken his own life
shortly after the war, but I have my doubts. Does anyone know for sure?