Send us your ideas for the series by using the hashtag #LastWitness. This story is part of an ongoing series from Radio Diaries and NPR called Last Witness, which features portraits of the last surviving witnesses to major historical events. Special thanks to the Atomic Heritage Foundation. This story was produced by Nellie Gilles of Radio Diaries along with Joe Richman and Sarah Kate Kramer and edited by Deborah George and Ben Shapiro. "The Japanese started the war it was our turn to finish it." "After 73 years, I do not regret what we did that day. In 2011, he returned to Japan to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Gackenbach was discharged in 1947 and went on to work as a materials engineer for 35 years.
15, Japan announced its surrender, bringing an end to World War II.Ī huge cloud resulting from the massive fires started by "Little Boy," the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, is photographed from a reconnaissance plane a few hours after the initial explosion. dropped a second atomic bomb, on the city of Nagasaki. Another 80,000 died from effects of the bomb in the months and years following. An estimated 80,000 people were killed instantly. The casualties on the ground were staggering. "We just looked at each other we didn't talk. "Things were very, very quiet," Gackenbach says. The plane circled twice around the mushroom cloud and then turned to head home. He got out of his seat, quickly picked up his camera and took two photographs out the navigator's side window. The first thing Gackenbach saw was a blinding light and then the start of a mushroom cloud. Then, the radio went dead: that was the signal from the Enola Gay that the bomb had been released. "We were not told anything about the cloud, just don't go through it."Īs they made their final approach to Hiroshima, they were flying 30,000 feet over the city. "We were told that once the explosion occurred, we should not look directly at it, that we should not go through the cloud," he says. Gackenbach was part of the 10-man crew that flew on the Necessary Evil. The flight The atomic bomb explosion photographed from 30,000 feet over Hiroshima on Aug. "We were only told what we needed to know, and keep your mouth shut." "I never heard the words 'atomic bomb,' " he tells Radio Diaries. The Enola Gay carried the weapon, nicknamed "Little Boy." It weighed nearly 10,000 pounds and could produce an explosive force equal to an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT.īut at the time, Gackenbach didn't know any of this. 6, 1945, when an atomic bomb was dropped on that city. Necessary Evil is one of three B-29 Superfortresses that flew over Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. They had different engines, fewer guns and a larger bomb bay. Their planes were reconfigured B-29 Superfortress bombers. The 509th Composite Group, lead by Tibbets, spent months training in Wendover, Utah, before being shipped off to an American air base on the Pacific island of Tinian. Tibbets said it would be dangerous but if they were successful, it could end the war. Paul Tibbets, who was recruiting officers for a special mission. After completing his training, he was approached by Col. Gackenbach enlisted in the Army Aviation Cadet Program in 1943. Today, the 95-year-old is the only surviving crew member of those three planes. Army Air Corps and a navigator on the mission. Russell Gackenbach was a second lieutenant in the U.S. There were three strike planes that flew over Hiroshima that day: the Enola Gay, which carried the bomb, and two observation planes, the Great Artiste and the Necessary Evil. It was the first time a nuclear weapon had been used in warfare. 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Gackenbach, whose duties included documenting the event with his camera, is the last surviving member of the Hiroshima mission.