Margie Patton
Staff Writer
The last surviving member of the U.S. Hiroshima bomb crew, Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk, has died of natural causes at 93.
Van Kirk was the navigator of the Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing an estimated 150,000 people. Approximately half of those killed died on the day of impact, while the remainder succumbed to radiation sickness, burns, and other related injuries and illnesses, including cancer, in the following days, months, and years.
The bombing of Hiroshima and the bombing of Nagasaki three days later are the only times in history nuclear weapons have been used in warfare. The two attacks combined killed an estimated 230,000 people.
Van Kirk was quoted as having “no regrets” regarding his part in the bombing, asserting that the action aided in bringing a swifter end to World War II.
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