'No Regrets About Bombing Hiroshima'

For the first time in almost 60 years, retired Brig. Gen. Paul W. Tibbets and two of the surviving crew of the Enola Gay that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 returned to the island where the B-29 aircraft was loaded.

Tibbets, who piloted the Enola Gay named after his mother, said he has absolutely no regrets over the Japan bombings that helped hasten the end of World War II.

Even Japanese authorities believed that the bombing had to happen to prompt the Japanese government to surrender and bring the war in the Pacific to a quick end.

The return to the Northern Marianas of Tibbets and his navigator Theodore "Dutch" J. Van Kirk and weapon test officer Morris R. Jeppson from June 14 to 21 highlighted the 60th commemoration of the historic Battles of Saipan and Tinian.

Van Kirk said that while the Hiroshima bombing had been criticised by many, it was for the good of all mankind, and seeing the way the islands have prospered makes it "all worth it." "Many criticised what we did, but that's because they do not know what it's about. Many lives were saved worldwide, and even seeing how beautiful everything here is and how the people here are. It's just all worth it," he said.

In a solemn ceremony on Tinian, Tibbets' speech was interrupted by the noise of a passenger airplane flying overhead.

"Is that the sound of freedom?" he asked the crowd, led by fellow visiting veterans and Northern Marianas' Governor Juan N. Babauta.

Van Kirk said he remembered Tinian North Field had lots of military airplanes during the war.

"Now there are none, and it says something about the world these days. We're at peace now, relatively at peace, and it's good," he said.

They paid tribute to the millions of other men and women who fought during the war, amid the hero's welcome that met them at the Northern Marianas.

Van Kirk, in an open forum with college students on Saipan, said he believed in killing innocent civilians if the need is great enough.

"Mussolini was a civilian. Adolf Hitler was a civilian. In fact, I have certain people on my list that I'd like to see killed," said Van Kirk, whose witty reply earned the applause of the Northern Marianas College students.

During their one-week trip, the Enola Gay trio met with several Japanese citizens, who now comprise the largest bulk of tourists visiting the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Shigeharu Shoha, 64, of Okayoma, Japan said he feels no bitterness towards the crewmen. He said he actually saw smoke from Hiroshima during the bombing.

"I was five years old at that time. I saw smoke. My place is just very near Hiroshima. It's a neighbouring [place]," he said.

Hideyuki Suzuki, who bought an autographed copy of Tibbets' book on the 1945 bombing, said he was sorry that the bombing had to happen.

"But it was part of war and war is miserable," he said.

Tibbets said one Japanese businessman once told him, "We look up to you the way American Negroes look up to (former president) Abraham Lincoln. You granted us emancipation. You freed us. I owe you my presence." When the 89-year old Tibbets was first invited to revisit Tinian early this year, he said he didn't want to go. But he changed his mind in less than 24 hours.

"I have been really happy. I did not know what to expect‹the reception was beyond my understanding," he said.

With his visit, Tibbets did not only retell the story of the courageousness of the men and women that secured the United States' victory during the war, but also expressed his willingness to become a member of the Northern Marianas family.

"I got thinking that I owe you people here something. I felt that I owe you my presence. You've learned about me, you've heard about me. Well, I wanted you to really see me and make your own opinion of who I am and what you think I am. I hope that it will be favourable."