{"id":1597,"date":"2015-09-14T20:53:05","date_gmt":"2015-09-15T01:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/?p=1597"},"modified":"2017-06-19T13:13:01","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T18:13:01","slug":"hiroshima-nagasaki-the-aircrews-atomic-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/hiroshima-nagasaki-the-aircrews-atomic-dilemma\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiroshima & Nagasaki — The Aircrews’ Atomic Dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past month, a friend shared a story about a man who called a pastor.\u00a0 He wanted to \u201cvent\u201d because he had learned that several of the crewmembers on the Enola Gay<\/em> mission professed to be Christians.\u00a0 He stated that no one that was truly a Christian could have been a part of that mission.\u00a0 The man raised a question that deserves an answer.<\/p>\n

For those that are not familiar, the Enola Gay<\/em> was the aircraft which dropped the first atomic bomb (Little Boy) on Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945.\u00a0 Three days later another crew dropped another atomic bomb (Fat Man) on Nagasaki.\u00a0 The Japanese surrendered six days later.\u00a0 Their surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 \u2013 70 years ago.<\/p>\n

This was an ethical dilemma for many involved, not just the aircrew.\u00a0 For example, there were the group of scientists who realized that an atomic weapon may be possible and they came to ask Albert Einstein\u2019s assistance in convincing President Roosevelt to begin a program to develop such a weapon, in the event that the Germans (they were pretty confident) would also be working on such a weapon.\u00a0 There was the group of scientists who gathered in New Mexico to work on the bomb, among them a family friend of ours, Lan Wong.\u00a0 Then there was President Truman, who upon taking office after Roosevelt\u2019s death learned of the bomb and then learned that we could likely use it, but should we.\u00a0 That was his decision.<\/p>\n

The aircrews on the Enola Gay<\/em> and later the Bockscar<\/em> (which bombed Nagasaki) were way downstream in this decision.\u00a0 The crew of the Enola Gay could only imagine what such a weapon could do, the crew of the Bockscar<\/em> knew.\u00a0 Was it ethical for them to fly, in particular the professing Christians?<\/p>\n

One of the biggest factors in Truman\u2019s decision making (and I assume the aircrews’) is that any serious student of history knows that the dropping of the atomic bomb saved millions of American AND Japanese lives.\u00a0 The Japanese would have lost many more citizens (including civilians) if the allies would have been forced to take each island in tough fighting.\u00a0 The evidence of Okinawa makes that clear.\u00a0 Okinawa was not technically part of the Japanese mainland, yet the Japanese fought to the death of thousands of soldiers and civilians to defend it.\u00a0 Furthermore there is the legacy of previous invasions of the Japanese Islands, all of which had been thwarted, some super naturally, claimed the Japanese.\u00a0 They felt it was their destiny to have this happen again, should the Americans invade.\u00a0 The ends do not always justify the means, but in this case, the dropping of the atomic bomb was the best means to save lives.<\/p>\n

This entire case highlights the moral and ethical dilemmas, which aircrews, particularly military aircrews, sometimes find themselves in.\u00a0 The wise pilot has thought through his or her ethical framework before the situation arrives so they are prepared to fly, or refuse to fly, given the circumstances.<\/p>\n