Paul Tibbets dies at 92

Capt Jack · 11-01-2007, 11:15 AM

my dad was 19 at his first duty station. Pearl Harbor, December 1941. He'd been there two weeks at the time of the attack. USS Raleigh took at least one torpedo but didnt sink.
I've tried a zillion times to imagine such an event through the eyes of a 19 year old. I've also tried to imagine myself in Gen Tibbets position more than once. Again, nearly impossible to imagine being in such a position in world events.
Yeah. It was a different time

R.I.P. General Tibbets

DreadPirateRoberts · 11-01-2007, 11:24 AM

It was a different time. The casualty estimate in US lives was somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000 lives to invade Japan.

I was in kindergarten in 1970, and I remember some researchers coming into our classroom, and they tried to explain to us that that Truman had a difficult choice to make. Do you take X amount of Japanese lives? or Y amount of American lives. Does the decision change if X is > or < Y? What if some are your relatives? Which do you choose?

Apparently it made an impression on me, as I remember it to this day.

I had a great uncle who was in both Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and I'm guessing if they had invaded Japan, he would have been one of the 500,000 to 1,000,000.

11-01-2007, 11:15 AM	#1
Capt Jack check your head Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 4,174	my dad was 19 at his first duty station. Pearl Harbor, December 1941. He'd been there two weeks at the time of the attack. USS Raleigh took at least one torpedo but didnt sink. I've tried a zillion times to imagine such an event through the eyes of a 19 year old. I've also tried to imagine myself in Gen Tibbets position more than once. Again, nearly impossible to imagine being in such a position in world events. Yeah. It was a different time R.I.P. General Tibbets __________________ a clear conscience is a sure sign of a fuzzy memory
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11-01-2007, 11:24 AM	#2
DreadPirateRoberts Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 2,483	It was a different time. The casualty estimate in US lives was somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000 lives to invade Japan. I was in kindergarten in 1970, and I remember some researchers coming into our classroom, and they tried to explain to us that that Truman had a difficult choice to make. Do you take X amount of Japanese lives? or Y amount of American lives. Does the decision change if X is > or < Y? What if some are your relatives? Which do you choose? Apparently it made an impression on me, as I remember it to this day. I had a great uncle who was in both Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and I'm guessing if they had invaded Japan, he would have been one of the 500,000 to 1,000,000.
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