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Show SALT FLAT NEWS SEPTEMBER, 1970 11 Atomic Blest Recalled WENDOVER MOTEL By 393rd Squadron 47 Units Restaurant, Drive-i- n within two blocks Connecting Rooms Heated Pool Combinations Air Conditioned Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Pritchett, owners By Virginia Laughner Tub-Show- er George Marquardt is an amiable man. His dark hair is thinning a bit and his forty odd years show most around the waist, but his manner is calm, his face unlined and open, almost youthful You flf a. ace twenty nve years ago, and thousands n1, ? ?Yery family album. The uniform. The smiling buddies, arms around each other. And in the background, Pictured, painted, and named. Enola Gay. The Boxcar.petted, The Great Artiste For George Marquardt came of age in this country during a time of declared war, and in 1945 he found himself an operations officer of the 393rd Bomb Squadron at Wendover Air Force Base In of that year, he climbed into one of those August and took part in the greatest single act of human B-29- 's. B-29- 's destruction in the history of man. "Do you mind talking about the bombing?" I asked. "No," Marquardt replied " succinctly, we had a job to da" there was another little casino back up die hill ..." t Colonel Paul Tibbetts, who die first atomic bomb many thoughts must have from die Enola Gay on Aug's come flooding back to ust 6, 1945, had told much mind on the twenty-fift- h of the story in an article for anniversary of die atom- the Saturday Evening Post ic attack on Hiroshima and It was published nearly ayear after die attack took place. Nagasaki . "The war was different from George Marquardt rememwhat's going on now. It bered die article He had been was he fished around for mentioned as die pilot of the right words, "entirely difa plane which burned on die ferent Maybe we justreach-e- d runway during die strenuous a boiling point then dial training of pilots and revampwe haven't reached today. ing of madiinery that was reachMarquardt paused, necessary for success of die some of for kind explaning totally untried mission! The ation. training was intense. "I think thepeople as a whole "We worked hard, said were behind die War effort Marquardt "They kept us When somebody told you busy all week." to do something, you did it" New maneuvers were nec"Had you been in the Air essary to remove the plane Force very long when you from within die dangerous were sent to Wendover?" range of the shock of the exThe years ticked visibly but plosion. The . were outswiftly across his face. "Since fitted with a reverse propeller the beginning 1941." drive. Pilots were sent into as five years. "That the air to perform difficult and Weren't you anxious to go seemingly purposdess tricks. home?" Angles turn, and run. Visible "No, of all die people I ran bomb sighting was pushed to around with," he told me, "we die point of accuracy that riwere eager to go and get it valed today's automation over with.. We believed Hitman asked himEvery Why? ler was really out to conquer self. die world." All news about atom smashI reflected a moment on how had been banned from far removed Wendover was ing and magazines for sevfrom die beaches of Iwo Jima papers eral years, but die top secret and Tinian. nature of the mission for which "What about Wendover they were preparing seemed to' then? I asked. speculation about "There's not much difference. generate that very thing. They were The State Line was there. And going to drop something. He wasn't cold about it But dropped Mar-quardt- B-2- 9's . ELINOR SAYS: CMMMVtisi Visit Nstsl whsrt fritsds ant friaads . . , aid faskiaaad Wastara hospitality. Enjoy a trip to: BLKO, NEVADA mm&mm faabyaata Rates from $950to$1800 plan FINEST ACCOMMODATIONS ENTERTAINMENT STAGE DINING AND DANCING : COMMERCIAL HOTEL Oar "PUN PACKAOI rapmaats only a partiaa at tha may tiaa raaai accaaiamdatiaas ia Ilka. Pkaaa Ilka Traval Baraaa Sl f AtKABH 328-04343 L 4th Sawth 31 "They had you keyed up," Marquardt recalled, "almost like a horse going into a race. We could see die targets in our sleep." But somewhere in George Marquardt s dreams there was room for something else. During those tense, uncertain months, he met, courted and proposed to a woman. Love is no respecter of war. In May, they married. In August, Marquardt took off from Wendover in one of two companion planes trailing die Enola Gay, Colonel Tibbetts, and an atomic bomb. Marquardt's plane carried to photograph the blast The weather reconnaissance reported dear, over Hiroshima, setting off an air raid as it passed across die dty. By die time the other planes arrived, they later learned, people had goneback to work, the streets returned to normal. For unknown reasons, an air raid signal did not go off as the trio approached Hiroshima. The map, the dream, the reality came into view. The sighting was accurate. The bomb fell If there is any memory of astonishment at the great mushroom cloud, which has now become a symbol of mass death and horror, in the far reaches of George Marquardt's emotions, it does not come forward for public perusal Even die camera crew ' failed to keep a visual record of the event, for the film was lost, somehow, in the darkroom. Only a snapshottaken by a member of the crew records what these men saw. Marquardt still has a copy of that photograph. The plane creaked as die first shimmering, warped wave of the explosion reached up into die atmosphere. What was each man thinking? This will win die war? This will bring about surrender of the enemy? This will stop the years of endless fighting and slow death? This is what they believed. "My God, look at that son of a bitch go!" This is what one of them said. often lose Philosophies themselves in necessities. And die fact is just as true today as it was in 1945 that men believe defense to be one of the defense those necessities of one's race or country, of one's convictions, hopes, aspirations, even of one's own life. "We believed Hitier was to conquer die world. out This month about iBeventy members of the 393rd Bomb Squadron met at the Hotel Utah in Salt Lake City for a twenty-fift- h union. anniversary re- Jacob Beser, chairman of die reunion committee, reminisced about old times. Some of us, he said in a dinner speech to die group, "still have in a few laughs about it the apartments, that is." "As die plot began to thicken," Beser continued to speak, "who can forget the little welcoming speech that Paul Tibbetts gave. To this date I'm sure there is still much speculation about what he really said. One thing was certain-d- ie 393 was about to embark upon a venture so new and so uncertain that even the ablest barracks lawyer or latrine tactitian never really figured it out" were sobering "There in all of us aroused thoughts after the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Thoughts that I am sure still exist" George Marquardt enjoyed the reunion. It was the first that he had attended. There were many old friends, daily companions of two years' duration, that he had not seen for twenty-fiv- e years. The agenda of die reunion included viewing the rehearsal of die Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the outdoor musical Promised Valley, tours of the Temple grounds, and a drive to the Kennecott copper mine. The group went to Marquardt's home for dinner. Memories were prodded, stories retold, new pages fit ted into the old book and antagonisms brought to life. As die veterans walked out of the Hotel Utah, they encountered a group of "Ban the Bomb protesters. Marquardt neither avoided nor confronted them. I asked him what he thought of the demonstration. He had overheard one conversation in which die protester seemed ignorant of the events leading up to the bombing. He seemed to feel that many young people have litde knowledge of die difference between World War II and die present war in Viet Nam. Marquardt has three sons, ages eighteen, twenty and How do they twenty-fou- r. fed about fighting? "I think they're good normal Americans," he replied. "If it serves a purpose, they'll go, but as it is they don't know why they would be going. Going in to win now maybe China would come in, and it would be worse." I finally asked the question that had been on my mind from the beginning. How does it fed now, after so many years, reading accounts of what happened on the ground? "I don't think. we realized there would be as many lives . . . you were concerned." For the first time, he seemto need to restate, to explain, to give some reason. He thought quietly for a moment and spoke: "Why were there so many lives lost? I don't know. I don't have all the answers. Then, openly and without guilt, his dear brown eyes focused a calm challenge on mine, as if to say to my generation, "Do you?" ed |
