[Freeport]

Thank you sir.

[thesearethetimes...]

Godspeed sir.

May God rest his immortal soul, and bring comfort to his family.

[Rummyfan]

God rest ‘Dutch’ VanKirk’s soul. And thank him for his service.

[CrazyIvan]

I remember some lib teacher in high school telling us that all of the crew commit suicide or became drunks from guilt.

[Netz]

RIP Sir.
You helped end more bloodshed in that most horrible war of all time.
Though many revisionists today try to paint the use of the bomb as an evil manifestation of US Industrial military might, those of us who studied History well know that what you did throughout WWII and on August 6th were absolutely necessary and saved millions of additional lives.

Thank you for making our post-war world a safe, stable and prosperous one.

[skeeter]

Cannot believe these guys - those still with us - are this old now.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"I personally think there shouldn't be any atomic bombs in the world -- I'd like to see them all abolished."

"But if anyone has one," he added, "I want to have one more than my enemy."

Sound like a good philosophy on the subject...

[Tolkien]

A real hero. He may have saved thousands and thousands of lives; American and Japanese.

[tanknetter]

I met and spoke with Van Kirk a couple of times at booksignings. Great guy, wonderful sense of humor - was cracking jokes left and right.

With that kind of positive attitude it’s no wonder he made it into his 90s.

[truth_seeker]

Nuclear bombing of Japan:

Supreme act of Humanitarianism and Peace.

[dfwgator]

Kyūjō Incident http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABj%C5%8D_Incident