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“And Oak Ridge and the Manhattan Project,” added Lloyd.Īfter the reunion, the Stokes’ had a two-hour “one-on-one” with VanKirk and Charles D. “I just think how close we came to losing that war had it not been for these guys,” Betty said. government as a major site of the Manhattan Project, the massive wartime effort that produced the world’s first atomic weapons. Oak Ridge was built originally under a cloak of secrecy by the U.S.
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The local couple and other community members who attended that reunion were able to give back to the veterans who shared their stories from the war by recalling their own memories of early Oak Ridge - often referred to as the “Secret City” - which many hadn’t known about during World War II. “So I think stressing the importance of what they did and why they did it has really impacted me.” “We had a reunion some time ago of veterans who came back here to say, ‘Thank you, Oak Ridgers, for what you did,’” said Betty. VanKirk died at age 93 on July 28 at a retirement home in Stone Mountain, Georgia.īetty and Lloyd Stokes both became emotional when they spoke of VanKirk earlier this week, even wiping away their tears from time to time. Though VanKirk stated that his World War II experience taught him “that wars don’t settle anything” and he would have liked to see all atomic bombs abolished, he nevertheless stated “but if anyone has one - I want to have one more than my enemy.” Six days after the Nagasaki bombing, Japan surrendered. “There were a lot of lives saved,” VanKirk said of the two blasts and their aftermath that killed 140,000 in Hiroshima and claimed an additional 80,000 lives in Nagasaki. 6, 1945, and the dropping of a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki three days later, eliminated the need for an Allied land invasion that could have cost more lives on both sides, a recent AP story points out. The first atomic bomb deployed in wartime over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. “I honesty believe the use of the atomic bomb saved lives in the long run,” VanKirk told The Associated Press in a 2005 interview. Theodore “Dutch” VanKirk, who was the last surviving member of the Enola Gay - the Boeing B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb over Hiroshima sixty-nine years ago today and is credited with hastening the end of World War II.
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WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.Those are the three words Lloyd and Betty Stokes of Oak Ridge use to describe Capt. This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses. From 2010 to his death in 2014, Van Kirk was the last surviving member of the Enola Gay crew. After the war, Van Kirk completed degrees in chemical engineering at Bucknell University and held various technical and managerial positions in research and marketing at DuPont for the next thirty-five years. In August 1945, he served as the navigator of the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, when it dropped the atomic bomb “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Late in 1944, he reunited with Tibbets and Ferebee at Wendover Air Force Base, Utah, as part of the 509th Composite Group. After flying 58 missions in Europe, Van Kirk returned to the United States in 1943 as an instructor navigator. There he met pilot Paul Tibbets and bombardier Tom Ferebee. In 1942, he transferred to the 97th Bomb Group, which flew B-17 Flying Fortresses out of England. Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk (1921-2014) was born in Pennsylvania and joined the Army Air Force Aviation Program in October 1941.
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These orders transferred Captain Van Kirk from the Instructional School to Wendover Field, Utah, where he would be part of the “Silver Plate Project,” the code name for the pilot and crew training program for the atomic bomb missions. 277, October 3, 1944, assigning Van Kirk to “Silver Plate Project” at Wendover Field, Utah, signed in margin by Van Kirk as “Dutch Van Kirk / Navigator – Enola Gay / 6 Aug. Enola Gay Navigator Dutch Van Kirk Assigned to “Silver Plate Project” THEODORE “DUTCH” VAN KIRK.