Paul Tibbets, RIP
Thanks for all the lives you saved
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday. He was 92 and insisted almost to his dying day that he had no regrets about the mission and slept just fine at night.
Tibbets died at his Columbus home, said Gerry Newhouse, a longtime friend. He suffered from a variety of health problems and had been in decline for two months.
Tibbets had requested no funeral and no headstone, fearing it would provide his detractors with a place to protest, Newhouse said.
Oh, and MSNBC? You can kiss my ass for this headline:
Paul Tibbets, WWII commander of infamous B-29, requested no headstone
The Enola Gay was not “infamous,” with the implication that it did something wrong. She was justifiably famous and honored for her role in bringing the most horrific war in history to a close.
People | Mr. Bingley | 
November 1, 2007 1:32 pm
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“Infamous”. Yeah, that headline writer can kiss my ass too. And by no headstone, do they mean an unmarked grave? If so, and I know that’s what the story says he requested, that seems very wrong to me.
Vale, General Tibbets. A good and honorable warrior has left us.
And……
Yep, that headline writer can kiss my ass as well.
Dave, I agree, it’s wrong not to have a headstone for him, but Tibbets knew full well that he is villified by many (ignorant) people. That’s why he asked for his ashes to be scattered over the English Channel. This way, he can rest in peace without worrying about some idiot descrating his grave.
I’m so proud to be an American among those of the likes of Paul Tibbets who knew what was right and never waivered.
God bless you General Tibbets! That bomb brought my dad and a lot of other dads back home from the Pacific.
MSNBC can kiss mine as well, but it looks like that’s going to be a very long line.
Paul Tibbets insured that both my father and uncle came back from the Pacific safe and sound.
MSNBC can go suck a grenade.
I really do wonder what kind of fucktard degree you need to work in journalism for some of these places. It must feel liberating to achieve that level of stupidity.
Journalism degree? It’s just barely a degree. It’s the least challenging field out there, though there are a few others that vie for that honor.
Anyone with a journalism degree decided not to challenge themselves in school.
My undergrad history advisor referred to “journalism and/or communications, that fake degree.” When I asked a journalism major classmate what it involved, she said, “hanging around the radio station smoking a lot of pot.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but…
Bless his faithful, unwavering heart.
AOL’s sub-headline was “didn’t regret killing of 80,000.” But at least they called him “legendary,” I guess. I’m grateful to all of our military for their service and may he rest in peace.
You know – not only did he bring home a lot of husbands and fathers to their families in America, but he sent home a fair number to families in Japan as well. The war could have dragged on to the end of ’46 or longer if we had to invade the country.
And I confess that I was a journo major. Any classes that dealt with the actual collection of facts, writing, or editing were a piece of cake – what stumped me was the pathetic hagiography of various landmark cases and the oddities of communications law. There’s little they taught me that could not have been learned better on the job at a newspaper or broadcast outlet.
A million potential casualties say fuck off to that headline writer.