Deathwatch: Thomas Ferebee, first atomic bombardier, 81

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://cnn.com/2000/US/03/16/obit.ferebee.ap/index.html

Thomas Ferebee, first atomic bombardier, dead at 81

March 16, 2000
Web posted at: 8:10 PM EST (0110 GMT)


WINDERMERE, Florida (AP) -- Thomas Wilson Ferebee, the bombardier who
dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in World War II, died Thursday. He was
81.

Ferebee was 26 on August 6, 1945, and already a major and a veteran of 64
missions when the B-29 Enola Gay took off for Japan with the first nuclear
weapon ever deployed.

Ferebee, who retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 1970, said he never
felt guilty but was sorry the bomb killed so many.

"I'm sorry an awful lot of people died from that bomb, and I hate to think
that something like that had to happen to end the war," he said in a 1995
interview on the 50th anniversary of the bombing.

"Now we should look back and remember what just one bomb did, or two bombs,"
he said. "Then I think we should realize that this can't happen again."

America's bombing of Hiroshima and the blast at Nagasaki three days later
left more than 100,000 dead and led to the end of the war.

The only other man who has dropped a nuclear bomb in war, Nagasaki
bombardier Kermit Beahan, died in 1989. Japan surrendered on August 14,
1945, five days after the Nagasaki bomb was dropped.

The Enola Gay's pilot, retired Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets, had hand-picked
Ferebee for his crew and called him "the best bombardier who ever looked
through the eyepiece of a Norden bomb site."

Ferebee's death leaves only four surviving members of the Enola Gay's crew:
Tibbets, navigator Ted Van Kirk, weapons officer Morris Jeppson and radio
operator Richard Nelson.

Ferebee also participated in the first U.S. bombing raid on Nazi occupied
France in 1942 and was the lead bombardier for the Allies' first 100-plane
daylight raid in Europe.

After World War II, he served as a deputy commander for maintenance in
several B-47 Stratojet bomber wings. He flew aboard B-47s during the Cold
War and B-52s during the Vietnam War. His decorations included the Silver
Star, Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Bronze Star.

Survivors include his wife, Mary Ann Conrad Ferebee, and four sons.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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