Posted on 07/17/2004 7:40:36 AM PDT by Radix
MILTON - There was a break in the clouds, and Charles W. Sweeney, a young pilot, changed history.
His B-29 bomber dangerously low on fuel, Sweeney finally captured a glimpse of the target below and delivered the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki during World War II. It was the second and last time an atomic weapon had been used, and the Japanese surrendered a few days after the Aug. 9, 1945, bombing.
Sweeney, a retired Air Force general, died Thursday at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He was 84.
He was a Milton resident and a graduate of North Quincy High School.
Sweeney, whose passion for flying was stoked at the Squantum air field in Quincy, talked frequently about his fateful flight over the years and never spoke of any regrets. He was 25 at the time and had never before dropped a bomb on an enemy target.
I looked upon it as a duty. I just wanted the war to be over, so we could get back home to our loved ones,'' Sweeney told The Patriot Ledger in a 1995 interview. I hope my missions were the last ones of their kind that will ever be flown.''
Sweeney is believed to be the only person to fly in both the Nagasaki bombing and its predecessor, the bombing of Hiroshima three days earlier. He flew an instrument plane accompanying the Enola Gay during the Hiroshima run, and later recalled the bluish-white flash that filled the sky after the bomb's impact.
His own bomber, the Bock's Car, is not as well-known in history, but the bombing was certainly no less harrowing. The flight had fuel problems from the start, and clouds and smoke were covering the mission's primary target, the city of Kokura.
After making several dangerous passes over the city, Sweeney abandoned the city for Nagasaki. Only a break in the clouds allowed the bomb to be dropped, Sweeney said.
He ended World War II, which changed the course of history,'' Sweeney's son, Joseph said Friday.
His motto was that the best defense was a strong offense. He was very proud of the United States military and he loved the Marines because they took all the islands for him,'' Joe Sweeney said.
Charles Sweeney came from a family of Marines. Three of his brothers and two sons were in the Marine Corps.
After the bombing, he visited Japan several times and saw the devastation.
It was a terrible thing to see,'' he told The Patriot Ledger in 1995.
The city was totally devastated and the few people who were there still seemed stunned by what had happened,'' he said then.
Charles Sweeney wrote the book, War's End: An Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission,'' because of what he called cockamamie theories'' that the bombings were unnecessary.
He became an outspoken defender of the bombing, appearing on the television show Larry King and speaking at colleges and universities.
He became a brigadier general in 1956, at the time, the youngest man in the Air Force to reach that rank. He retired in 1976.
Joseph Sweeney said his father loved flying.
It was his whole life. He always said he was born in the right place at the right time,'' Joseph Sweeney said. He was the best. There was no better.''
This great man among others, saved a bunch of American lives in WW2. President Truman was the only Democrat I really appreciated, because he gave the order to drop the bombs, because of him and the grace of God, I don't know if I would be here today.
Really not more that I can add to my friends remarks. Actually I thank him for his service to our country.
not really... it would just result in the assured destruction of the entire planet.
Frankly, if I wanted to kill you, or if you wanted to kill me, we could both kill each other.
But, in reality, how does that help the totality of our families survive?
It doesn't.
That's why mutual assured destruction is a lousy ploy.
That is also why it is stupid to believe that any political activity which results in irreparable harm to another's community or family or self will go unpunished.
Even those engaging in internet based hoaxes and infidelity know... all is possible to be tracked.
You sound like a proponent of death as the final answer.
Your thinking is disturbing yet strangely defended by the perps running this board.
The facts are that the nuking of Nagasaki and Hiroshima PREVENTED the immigration of tens of thousands of Japanese to the West Coast of the USA... but then again, you're probably one of the S.O.B.'s who think that it is appropriate to mass incarcerate and mass murder people on the basis of race.
Seig Heil for Free Republic!
(NOT!)
stop giving yourself wedgies before you remain falsetto.
I could write a dissertation on paranoia, propaganda, and public policy; but I'm not a neocon like you.
It is equally hilarious to watch you idiots defend the perps of the New Deal while it is obvious that it lead to the socialistic states we live in today.
As I posted before, Take your FDR loving b.s. go frack yourselves.
Ever read Mein Kampf?
What the hell do either books have to do with the conspiracy in the United States to defraud the American population from the pre-Dec 7 facts?
GO READ STINNETT's book called Day of Deceit!
that's nice that he was defending our nation in that fashion.
I can make similar claims about my uncles serving in both theatres too.
by your inane argument, there should be no difference in the Geneva Convention between combatants and civilians.
That's an interpretation that NO nation has.
Spoken as only a "dual citizen" could speak.
Take your funk & wagnalls and publish the definition of "concentration camp"...
Then, make a check list of facts related to Tule Lake, Manzanar, or any of the other dozen CONCENTRATION and PRISON camps which illegally held US Citizens in 1942.
When you get done publishing on Free Republic, post back to me... so I can rip your poppy seed smoking ridden filth to shreds.
There is NOTHING liberal in my interpretation.
There is EVERYTHING liberal in yours.
bttt
You have become incoherent with rage.
Your thinking is disturbing yet strangely defended by the perps running this board.
Or this (from 123):
Seig Heil for Free Republic! (NOT!)
Please, tell me about the forced labor, summary executions, random beatings and vicious so-called 'medical' experimentations in the American camps. Tell me about the appeals process available in the German camps, and please point out the date when everyone in the German camps was freed.
Your problem with FR is solved. Your channel has been changed.
I dunno Jim, we have like 972 channels here, and I still can't get him...
It's old with some passion . Honeydew as you please ^)
Your problem with FR is solved. Your channel has been changed.
Beats the hell out of bu buy .. I always found that to be so south beach ..
I never knew bones to be like that. I guess sometimes they just throw a rod and maybe there's nothing else that can be done.
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