War Hero Morris Jeppson Dies: Enola Gay Crewman Who Armed Atomic Bomb Dropped on Japs

[csbarry]

Our hearts and prayers should go out to Jeppson and his family. He was a true war hero who at age 23 armed the Atomic Bomb inside the Enola Gay when they approached the target city of Hiroshima which the result was tens of thousands of dead Japs possibly saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of servicemen including my father (R.I.P. Dad) who was prepared to invade Japan if it came to it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...040604104.html

Morris R. Jeppson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lt. Jeppson, pictured before his first and only combat mission. (National Museum Of Nuclear Science And History)

Morris R. Jeppson, 87, one of two weaponeers who armed the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, prompting the surrender of Japanese troops and the end of World War II, died March 30 at a hospital in Las Vegas. His family could not provide a specific cause of death but said he had been hospitalized for back pain and a severe headache.
Known as "Dick," Mr. Jeppson was a 23-year-old Army Air Forces second lieutenant when he boarded the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, for what would be his first and only combat mission.
It was the wee hours of the morning on Aug. 6, 1945, and "Little Boy," the bomb that would introduce the world to nuclear warfare, lay in the plane's belly in safe mode. It had to be armed in flight en route to its target to avoid accidental detonation during takeoff.


More in links.

Your use of Japs" in the OP is noted, racist.

So playing your part in the massacring of the Japanese people makes you a war hero? Sounds more like a war criminal to me.

Those two bombs saved more lives than they took...stopped the war without a costly (in lives) invasion.

So playing your part in the massacring of the Japanese people makes you a war hero? Sounds more like a war criminal to me.

Hey, the Japs drew first blood when they attacked Pearl Harbor. We just ended it with the bomb vaporizing tens of thousands of the treacherous Japs.

Your racism is showing.

First and foremost, the term "Japs" was the term used during the Second World War. The use of the term "Japs" has nothing to do with racism, it is simply a slang term, much the same as "gringos" or "canucks" is used in reference to those living on the North American continent.

 

[Neser Boha]

So, Christians, is he going to go to heaven or hell? After all, he was responsible for thousands of deaths of innocent civilians, a lot of whom were children.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

So, Christians, is he going to go to heaven or hell? After all, he was responsible for thousands of deaths of innocent civilians, a lot of whom were children.

That will be decided at the end times, no one goes to heaven or hell until the Judgement. As far as I am concerned he acted within the context of a war. God does not punish someone for waging just war. The war against Japan was a just war.

Just my personal opinion.

 

[blu]

And you talk about being humble with war? We built up Japan and Germany after WWII, if we were not humble and doing the noble thing, why would we help build their countries back up, even after what they put our people and the world through?

WWII and the ending of the emperor's rule was probably the best thing that ever happen to Japan. They blew up economically after that, and is now an ally.

I don't think you can get as humble and noble as that

they stole tax payer money to enrich USA engineering, construction, and mercenary companies. sound familar? I don't find out right theft to be noble

 

[rightwinger]

So, Christians, is he going to go to heaven or hell? After all, he was responsible for thousands of deaths of innocent civilians, a lot of whom were children.

Regardless of your moral position on the use of atomic bombs, Morris R. Jeppson was a young kid who was given enormous responsibility. He executed his mission as he was trained and ordered to do.

 

[Douger]

It's too bad there is no such place as hell because, if there was, that brainwashed ass wipe would get a golden throne there.

Official Japanese figures at the time put the death toll at 118661 civilians

 

[theHawk]

Hundreds of thousands more died in the Tokyo bombings by conventional weapons. What does it really matter how someone dies? You think people dying by a bullet or a normal mortar shell is a good way to die and getting vaporized in an atomic bomb blast is somehow worse? All it means is the few people that flew the airplane that dropped it were responsible for those deaths, as opposed to the hundreds of pilots that dropped bombs on Tokyo. Does it really make a difference if 2 people were able to kill 100,000 people in one day versus hundreds of pilots killing 200,000? And how about the thousands of Americans who help built all those bombs? Are they resonsible too? Just like all the Japanese who lived and worked in industrial cities like Hiroshima making weapons and supplies for their army and navy which were no doubt used to kill God knows how many people?

Nearly 80 million people died in that war. So enough of the phoney outrage over 80,000 "innocent" Japs killed by the bomb. Japan's total losses pale in comparison to what China, the Soviets, and European civilians went through. Cry me a river.