Posted on 03/27/2017 1:26:05 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Al Karschner, a 92-year-old Grand Island resident, worked with Gen. Paul Tibbets, the man who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.
Karschner served under Tibbets in the early 1960s, when the Nebraska man was stationed at the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon. Tibbets, a brigadier general, was deputy director for the National Military Command Center.
Tibbets frequently paid a visit to the National Military Command Center. When he visited, he often sat in Karschner’s chair, “not because I was important,” Karschner says, but because he had the only chair available. Tibbets would put his feet up on Karschner’s desk and chat.
Though he was a four-star general, he “would hold a decent conversation with you,” said Karschner, who was a senior chief yeoman in the Navy.
Tibbets was the pilot of the Enola Gay, the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. The B-29 Superfortress was manufactured in Omaha. Tibbets’ mother was named Enola Gay Tibbets. He died in 2007 at the age of 92.
Karschner was on duty at the Pentagon during a tense time in American history — the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. At the peak of that tension, he spent a tough couple of hours with Tibbets.
On Oct. 27, 1962, a U.S. reconnaissance plane was shot down over Cuba by a Soviet missile. It was Karschner’s understanding that if another country fired anything at the U.S., “we’ll take them out,” he said.
So he feared the worst.
“I thought we were at war,” recalled Karschner, who was 37 at the time.
Tension between the two countries centered on the discovery of Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba. They were missiles “that we later found out would reach Omaha,” Karschner said.
Tibbets entered the command center that night to check on the staff and bring them up to date. Karschner and the others had already heard the spy plane had been shot down.
One of Karschner’s jobs was to push buttons that communicated with U.S. nuclear submarines. Other people in the room were in touch with Looking Glass, the airborne command center based at Offutt Air Force Base. The command center also included a row of teletypes and a phone to the White House.
Tibbets asked who was in charge of communicating with nuclear submarines.
“I do, General,” Karschner responded.
Tibbets asked how many missiles each sub was equipped with. Karschner replied that as far as he knew, they each had 12 missiles.
Tibbets then asked him how many nuclear subs the U.S. had in its arsenal.
Karschner told him he’d just as soon not know. “It’s just another thing to keep in your head you have to keep your mouth shut about,” he said Sunday, smiling.
But Tibbets “quickly realized that I knew what I was doing,” he said.
Tibbets and Karschner talked about the situation.
At that point, the U.S. was at DefCon 2, which is a level of high readiness. Tibbets said the U.S. knew the location of every Soviet submarine.
Karschner asked Tibbets if the U.S. had enough weapons to get the job done.
Tibbets said the U.S. had enough firepower to level the Soviet Union, as well as China “and anybody else who wants to stick their damn nose in, too.”
If the U.S. went ahead, Karschner figured the Americans would destroy the missile launching sites in Cuba. He didn’t know if the bombs would be conventional or nuclear.
At that point, negotiations were going on at the highest levels of the American and Soviet governments.
You could see the anxiety in Tibbets, but he was under complete control, Karschner said.
Tibbets was a good officer, friendly and polite, but he was “one tough hombre,” Karschner said.
Tibbets was clearly in command. He was “one super officer for that type of situation,” Karschner said.
In the command center, tensions eased somewhat when Tibbets said, “We have postponed the bombing run.” Rain was the reason for the postponement. Eventually, successful negotiations averted nuclear war.
“When it was all over and done with, I thought I handled myself pretty well,” Karschner said.
The same went for the entire team, he said. Nobody buckled. They all did their jobs.
He worked at the Pentagon for 15 or 16 months.
On Sept. 30, 1963, Karschner was presented with a certificate, signed by Tibbets. The document was given to him “in recognition of duties performed in the National Military Command Center,” which was operated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
When a plane hit the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, Karschner studied the pictures. As far as he could tell, if he had been working in his old office that day, “I wouldn’t be here,” he said.
Karschner, an Omaha native, has lived at Primrose Retirement Communities in Grand Island since November. He and his wife, Barbara, initially moved into Primrose, but she passed away Jan. 22.
His stepson is J.J. Green of Grand Island.
Karschner served for three years during World War II, enlisting on Jan. 4, 1943. When the war ended, he was a first-class pharmacist’s mate.
He’s proud of his Naval experience. But the experience with Tibbets, he said, “was the big thing in my military life.”
Karschner believes that Tibbets “will be remembered forever.”
Tibbets and the pilot who dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasakai “stopped the war,” Karschner said.
For that reason, he will be in the history books 1,000 years from now, he said.
We walked over and shook his hand. I was in awe of his age and bearing, and couldn't think of anything to say, but my teacher, who is in his mid-'70s, asked him "what theater were you in?" and he just said "CBI."
I had never heard of it, but I went on line and found out about the China-Burma-India theater. Fantastic.
Well that’s far better then actually being under him when he did drop it.
Good change of pace story
Much better than some postings by the gossipers and rumor mongers
Very cool. I got to meet Tibbets when he came into the daily newspaper where my wife and I were working in S. Texas. As I recall we were doing a story on The Confederate Air Force and their B-29. That had to be the late 70’s.
I stopped and asked him if he had a minute to chat. He agreed so I asked him when he served. He had served in Europe during WWII and also said he was in the Battle of The Ardennes. I knew the history of that battle and he was very happy to talk about it. A fascinating guy.
I left him to his meal but before he left, I made sure I gave him a generous gift card for his future meals there. The manager said Ol' Joe was a regular.
There have been a few articles and books written about how the millennials are the next greatest generations like the WWII vets. Grade “A” bs. If we ever get invaded, even by a third world country they would all be running for their safe space.
That one summer I spent in Tokyo I flew down to Hiroshima and walked all around what is called The A-Bomb building. Japan keeps it as a memorial, has not done a thing to it but keep it stabilized from falling. I stayed at a hotel a quarter mile from Ground Zero, brought home a small medicine bottle of dirt from that. The museum is haunting.
The Enola Gay is on display at the Air and Space Museum Annex out by Dulles. Very cool place to visit.
So which was he (Tibbets)? A four-star or a Brigadier? You can’t be both.
I had the great pleasure of meeting three Medal of Honor recipients and one Tuskegee Airman.
My 90 yr old pop passed in 2015. He was an 11thAB
paratrooper who fought on Leyte and Luzon against
the Japanese. He was shot in the head during the
liberation of Manila and spent the next 70 years with
a titanium plate in his skull. Between the GI Bill and
total disability from his wound we attended and
graduated from college in less than three years. After
farming he became an agriculture teacher and eventually
earned a PhD in Vocational education, retiring from
the California State Dept of Ed. He hunted, fished,
and built 3 homes in his spare time
He never minded people asking him about the war and was a
proud member of his regimental boxing team.
Our cousin was on a ship bound for Japan when they got the
news that the bomb had been dropped. - His commander had
lined them up, told them flat out, “Look to your right. Look
to your left. Two out of three or you WILL be killed by the
Japs in the invasion.” My dad, a hardened combat veteran was
eventually bound for Japan before I was born. He had
survived a lot already in that war. No guarantees he could
have survived an invasion of Japan. Truman had guts and
saved many American lives by using what he had - the bomb.
He made a decision and slept well that night.
I’m glad your father and cousin survived. Japan did not surrender because of the nukes, they surrendered because Russia invaded them. FDR made a huge mistake by not requiring Russia to declare war on Japan immediately. He let them have until three months after the war in Europe ended.
We had already bombed almost every big or medium sized city in Japan to rubble. We did more damage with conventional bombing than nuclear bomb. Although, nuclear bombing is scarier.
Germany was also bombed all to pieces. So bad that my dad
thought it was still desolate even after years. He didn’t
want me to go to Germany because he had seen too much
outrage & desolation there during the war (& didn’t want me
to ever see it). He wasn’t much of a “world traveler” after
the war, because the first time he was sent out into the
world, the “world’s people” were SHOOTING AT HIM. That’ll
get your attention and tend to make you appreciate the HOME
you “travelled” & risked you life to defend.
Truman had sense enough to know that the Japs were
totally committed to KILLING & would NEVER stop. He had
learned a lot from Pearl Harbor. (As a hardened combat
veteran, my dad would have had to eventually go to Japan
& take the war to them charging Hell with a bucket of
water as he said basic had the Americans ready to do).
Even the Jap women & kids were trained to fight the
“invaders” with any available weapon. Nothing short of
DRAMATIC was ever going to make the Japs surrender & IT
TOOK MORE THAN ONE to do the job and make them quit what
THEY HAD STARTED AT PEARL.
“So which was he (Tibbets)? A four-star or a Brigadier? You can’t be both.”
Paul W Tibbets Jr enlisted in the US Army Air Corps in 1937 and retired from active duty in USAF in 1966, with the rank of Brigadier General (one star).
It’s unrealistic to expect a USN Yeoman to recall the finer distinctions among USAF officer ranks, 55 years later.
There is every possibility that author Jeff Bahr or the editors at the Grand Island Independent made mistakes. Perhaps more than one: the photo accompanying the original post does not show Mr Karschner wearing a Senior Chief’s uniform.
The next-to-last sentence of author Bahr’s article contains an error also: Thomas W Ferebee released the bomb from Enola Gay. He was the bombardier, not a pilot. 109 years after aircraft began carrying more than one person, most civilians still refer to anyone who flies as a “pilot”. It’s also a common mistake among members of the military who aren’t aviators.
So is USS Arizona.
They messed with the bull, they got the horns.
Karma is a b!tch - what goes around comes around. The torpedo’s used at Pearl Harbor were manufactured at Nagasaki.
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