‘Dutch’ Van Kirk
Theodore Jerome ‘Dutch’ Van Kirk by © Dan Callister
Back in 2005 I was commissioned to photograph Theodore Jerome "Dutch" Van Kirk in Georgia. Dutch (b. February 27, 1921) was the navigating officer on the Enola Gay when it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Dutch said he was often asked, given a choice about his role in the Hiroshima bombing, would he do it again? “Under the same circumstances – and the key words are the same circumstances, yes, I would do it again. We were in a war for five years. We were fighting an enemy that had a reputation for never surrendering, never accepting defeat. It's really hard to talk about morality and war in the same sentence. In a war, there are so many questionable things done. Where was the morality in the bombing of Coventry, or the bombing of Dresden, or the Bataan Death March, or the Rape of Nanking, or the bombing of Pearl Harbor? I believe that when you're in a war, a nation must have the courage to do what it must to win the war with a minimum loss of lives”
Dutch, the last surviving member of the Enola Gay, passed away peacefully on Monday, July 28, 2014 in Atlanta GA.
