In Remembrance of August 9, 1945..."Successful Failed Mission"
SUCCESSFUL FAILED MISSION
(Or “Wishful Thinking”)
“Just finish the report for God’s sake, Sergeant.”
“It was hard to know where to begin, Sir.”
“Well, the report has to get turned in, so start at the beginning and just go from there. Or start in the middle. I don’t care. Headquarters has got to have it by the end of your watch today. Read me what you’ve got so far.”
“Yes Sir. Here goes: ‘We had our orders. Early on, the B29-45-MO was named the Enola Gay, by 509th commander Lt. Commander Paul W. Tibbets. He named it after his mother. The Lt. Commander was to pilot the plane on the highly secretive mission, and on July 31 the U-35 projectile and target were installed, along with the four initiators. At 1400 on August 5th the first combat atomic bomb, Little Boy, was taken to the loading pit, where a hydraulic lift raised it into the bomb bay of the Enola Gay. Thomas Ferebee, the bombardier, was to take control of the plane when they reached the first target, the city of Hiroshima, and then after the bomb was released, Lt Commander Tibbets was to resume control of the plane. At 0900, the plane and the seven-man crew proceeded toward Hiroshima. But at 0920…’ and this is where it gets hard, sir…”
“Just get on with it, Sergeant.”
“Yes sir. ‘At 0920, the voice of the co-pilot, a young officer from Arkansas, Lt. Tom Cumberland, who was third in command, said ‘Y’all sure you wanna do this thing this morning, Commander? I mean, your mama’s name is on this here plane. You sure you really wanna kill 150,000 people? There might be some nice folks down there, sir, we don’t even know any of those folks. I don’t know about you sir, but my mama sure wouldn’t want me to do somethin’ like that.’ Lt. Commander Tibbets came back hard at Cumberland. ‘Cumberland, you are relieved from duty. Get off the intercom. Someone relieve him of his weapon!’
“But then Ferebee, the bombardier, chimed in. “Sir, I think he’s right. I couldn’t sleep last night, thinking about all this. I know President Truman thinks it’s a great idea, but think about it, sir. Your mom, for God’s sake… does she know about this? Does she know her name’s on this here plane? What’s she got against the Japanese, sir? Did she have any personal friends in Pearl Harbor? I think this whole thing’s gotten out of control. This whole thing is really unnecessary, in my opinion.”
Tibbet’s voice again came over the headphones. “What’s the matter with you clowns? We have a chance to make history here! We have a chance to win the war, to set off the first deadly Atomic blast in the history of mankind! Doesn’t that mean ANYTHING to you guys? Ferebee, get your ass back into the bomb bay.”
“And then…Now sir, this is the part that I just know headquarters won’t swallow…”
“Just get ON with it, Sergeant…”
“Yes sir - ‘…and then, from out of nowhere, in a sort of echo, a woman’s voice spoke, softly at first… ‘Pauly? PAULY!! I told you not to make me come down here again! I thought you had better sense than this. This is no joke! I will NOT have my name go down in history as the ‘thing’ that unloaded devastation on 150,000 people. I don’t care if they’re Japs or Canadians, and you know how I feel about Canadians! You turn this plane around AT ONCE. Are you out of your mind? Truman’s a fairly reasonable guy – he will understand, but you know better than to mess with me, even if I’m already dead!’
“There was silence for a few moments from the cockpit. Then Lt. Commander Tibbets said, ‘Well. I supposed we could just go back to the base and say the automatic release sequence failed.’
“And that’s about it, sir. That’s why the mission failed, and when we got back to the base, the message had been received from Truman that indeed, the Emperor had sent a message of surrender, and the mission was to have been canceled, but we never got word.”
“OK, Sergeant, get to work on a re-write. Ditch the part about Tibbet’s mother, for God’s sake. Just go with the Emperor’s message. Leave it on my desk. Dis-missed!”