09/04/2010 11:32
Crewman, who helped to drop atomic bomb over Hiroshima, dies
Morris Jeppson, a weapons test officer aboard the Enola Gay who helped to drop atomic bomb over Hiroshima, died at 87 in Las Vegas.
Jeppson, a retired scientist and businessman, died at Summerlin Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas on March 30 of complications, related to old age, his wife Molly Jeppson told journalists.
Jeppson, known as "Dick," was a 23-year-old Army Air Forces second lieutenant when he boarded the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, for what would be his first and only combat mission.
"It's not a proud thing. It was a devastating thing," Jeppson said in a 2003 interview. "It's unfortunate, but it probably saved hundreds of thousands of American lives and many more Japanese lives."