Enola Gay crew expected back this August

The island of Tinian will be hosting this August the 60th anniversary of the atomic missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, during which over 100 U.S. World War II veterans and Japanese veterans are expected to visit the island 60 years after the fateful missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The commemorative event will be held from Aug. 2 to Aug. 10, 2005.

The highlight of the events will be the return of the Enola Gay crew—pilot, General Tibbets, navigator, Dutch Van Kirk and weaponeer Morris Jeppson, according to Phillip T. Mendiola-Long, chair of the 60th anniversary committee and Special Assistant for Policy and Research for the Tinian and Aguiguan Mayor’s Office.

Tibbets, Van Kirk, and Jeppson were also present during the 60th anniversary of the Battles of Saipan and Tinian that was held in the CNMI June of last year.

Mendiola-Long said other World War II veterans who are also confirmed to take part in the event are the 112th Sea Bees who built the 8,600-foot B-29 runway in record time, Manhattan Project scientists and engineers, veterans and survivors of the USS Indianapolis, veterans of the 509th Composite Bomber Group and veterans from the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions who invaded Tinian Island in what is called the greatest amphibious assault in war history.

In addition to the over 100 U.S. World War II veterans whom have already confirmed to arrive on Tinian, Mendiola-Long said a contingent of Japanese veterans and atomic bomb survivors will also be apart of the event.

Planned events are memorial commemorations for the atomic missions on the 6th and 9th of August, peace ceremonies, historical tours of Tinian Island, oral history presentations from the strike crews and the atomic survivors as well as other events that can be found at www.tinian60.org.

Mendiola-Long stressed that the commemoration event does not intend to assign blame but, instead, impart history through the personal knowledge and experiences of those that had lived it on both sides of the conflict.

“Tinian’s commemoration goal is to turn ‘hatred into hope’ through an open dialog of the knowledge of events that transpired 60 years ago in venues that both sides can enjoy,” he said.

News organizations, writers and historians will be given the rare and unique opportunity to have direct access to over 100 U.S. and Japanese veterans who were a part of history’s most important and significant news event of the last century.

For more information, visit www.tinian60.org. (PR)