Dennis Marek: Where were you this month 80 years ago?

On August 9, 1945, the Enola Gay, a modified B-29 Superfortress, left Tinian Air Force Base on the Mariana Islands.

I was just 2 years old. My dad had been working in a defense plant where the B-29 parts were being made. At the same time, the late James Kasler was a 17-year-old airman on Tinian, having flown several missions over Japan as a tail gunner in another B-29.

I had asked him if he had seen the Enola Gay, and he related that they had closed off one runway a few weeks earlier. He noticed that there was only one B-29 sitting on that runway, and he later learned that this was in fact the Enola Gay.

It is now 80 years later. The crew of that airplane has all died. Probably every decision maker on whether to drop the first atomic bomb has all died as well. However, this marked the entry into the nuclear age, which has both protected and scared us ever since. Three days later, another B-29, known as Bockscar, dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki. Most do not know this, but Nagasaki was not the primary target that day; however, bad weather over the second site, Kokura, caused the airplane to hit its secondary target.

As we contemplate these two events, it is interesting that the Smithsonian’s Space Museum, despite holding the Enola Gay in its collection, is not hosting any event to recognize this date in history. Instead, it will merely share information on its website.

That makes one ponder this historic event that clearly caused the end of WWII. Is that historic event the blessing of an ending of a horrible war, or the precursor of what someday may eliminate the human race from the planet?

The Pacific forces had a saying as they prepared for an invasion of Japan to end the war. It was “the Golden Gate in ‘48,” meaning that a land invasion might take another three years. And it may well have. So, one can look at the decision to unleash this horrible invention as the saving of tens of thousands of American lives that would have died in such an invasion, compared to the hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives that were lost as a result of that decision.

I have wondered what the crews of those two airplanes thought and felt after the results of those two bombing runs were revealed. Yes, it was their orders to do so, but they were human as well. Certainly, in the face of war, it is often kill or be killed. Man has fought to save his life since humans came to be. In our DNA, there is a fight or flight mechanism that must have been in the survivors who lived to keep humanity ticking. But these two acts took on a totally different magnitude.

Yes, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor without warning, killing and injuring thousands of Americans. No doubt, FDR had to proclaim war against Japan. But now we have an example of what the nuclear age can produce. And now we have several countries that may have that capacity. What we do and how we react now is only an extension of what we did in August of 1945.

Just before the 50th anniversary of the first atomic bomb being dropped, the Smithsonian Museum had an exhibition planned featuring the Enola Gay. They were attempting to broach the impact and legacy of the weapon. The result was a political firestorm.

The exhibit that was to be called “Crossroads” and later changed to “The Last Act” included photos and artifacts from both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One exhibit was to include the lunchbox of a 12-year-old Hiroshima girl deformed by the heat of the blast, along with the charred remains of her rice and peas inside.

The draft exhibit would have asked visitors to consider historical debates over whether the bombs were necessary to end the war.

Ultimately, the Smithsonian pulled the plug on the exhibit. The Enola Gay was there, but no fanfare. Now the airplane sits near Dulles International Airport outside of D.C.

But the rage of veterans and 80 members of Congress, predominantly Republicans, demanded the resignation of the man who pulled that plug, expressing the belief that the act turned the focus away from the Japanese forces’ brutality throughout the war.

As we sit another 30 years later, we are probably no closer to agreement on this historic decision to use these new weapons. Yes, it ended the war three years early. Yes, the Japanese started the conflict with Pearl Harbor. But think of the innocent civilians who died along with a minimal amount of Japanese war supplies and weaponry that the bombs actually destroyed. That discussion will probably never reach an agreement or consensus.

Now here we are 80 years later. Many countries have the nuclear ability to some degree, and yet mankind has chosen not to unleash these weapons of mass destruction. Even Khruschev chose not to have Castro unleash the weapons that were in place in Cuba when we blockaded his ships bringing more weaponry to this madman who was ready to launch against us. He chose to avoid a nuclear war that was certain to occur.

We can only hope that the leaders of the world understand that such an exchange could end our population of this world. We can only hope.