30 Dec Above and Beyond
Above and Beyond, a WWII movie starring Robert Taylor
(1952) The story of Col. Paul Tibbits who piloted the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the 1st atomic bomb. I was especially interested in how Tibbits organized and trained this first nuclear strike force, all top secret.
The movie also shows the strain this brought on his marriage to Lucy who tried to be supportive but never understood why he couldn’t take her into his confidence. Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker played the lead roles. The Enola Gay was named after Tibbits’ mother whose quiet confidence was a powerful influence in his life.
Above and Beyond is available at amazon.com
In 2002, General Tibbits was the honored guest speaker at the Memorial Day Celebration in Roswell, GA. A few days before, he spoke to my Rotary Club about his military career. Without being questioned about it, General Tibbits volunteered, “I am often asked if I have regrets about what happened that day. My answer is that I was doing my job.”
His words had barely settled on the audience of Rotarians when one of our World War II veteran members stood up and said, “I want to thank you, General Tibbets, because I already had orders to go to Japan. If the war hadn’t ended when it did, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here today.”
Watch the original trailer on the Turner Classic Movies site.
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