Charles Donald Albury, co-pilot of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, has died after years of congestive heart failure. He was 88. Albury died May 23 at a hospital, Family Funeral Care in Orlando confirmed. Albury helped fly the B-29 Superfortress, nicknamed "Bockscar," that dropped the weapon on Aug. 9, 1945. He also witnessed the first atomic blast over Hiroshima, as a pilot on a support plane that measured the magnitude of the blast and levels of radioactivity.
HERO Thx hat for sharing this. I had always heard that most of those guys went crazy or committed suicide. Good to know this one made it through and did the "ripe old age" thing.
DB, "HERO" is right. I think that hearing of the numbers of soldiers who "went crazy or lost it" is more of an urban myth. Those of this generation with whom I've spoken have never looked backwards with regret. Their sense of purpose and mission never faltered.
