That tens of thousands died. Russell Gackenbach was a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps and a navigator on the mission that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He is now 95 and the only surviving crew member of the three planes that flew the deadly mission: the Enola Gay (carried the bomb) and the Great Artiste and the Necessary Evil (observation planes).
“After 73 years, I do not regret what we did that day. All war’s hell,” he said. “The Japanese started the war; it was our turn to finish it.”
5:45 pm on August 7, 2018
