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Mr. Cox: Were you and Mary married at that time?
Mr. Brown: No, I was single. Right after that I decided to go back to college and finish college. It took a couple of years to finish college. Mr. Cox: I have heard a lot of veterans express their opinion about the atomic bomb. What is your opinion about dropping of the atomic bomb? Mr. Brown: The atomic bomb stopped the war. The atomic bomb got the attention not only of the Japanese, it got the attention of the world. It was the one thing that made the United States the principal power in the world. I think some of our leaders didn't realize that. We instantly became the central player in the safety of the world. We just closed out one big war. The bomb did that. The guys that trained to do that and the fellows that executed it did their jobs beautifully. It would have been fun to be on the crew, to be near those guys. I am sure you have seen the films of the two flights, the Enola Gay and the Brocks Car. Mr. Cox: Yes. You are probably aware that General Tibbets is supposed to be here during the Symposium in September. Mr. Brown: There is no question that world history was changed there. If the Germans had been dumb enough to hang on, they would have gotten a bomb and probably the Japanese would have gotten one also. It was a useful thing. From our current year 2000 perspective, if we knew the facts of how Hitler and Tojo were going to carve up the world. And that they almost did it. They came very close to it, not once but many times, whether it was the evacuation at Dunkirk or many other times in history. Those leaders made some really bad decisions. That is the only reason we won. We were very close to losing the ball game. Mr. Cox: Yes, sir. Mr. Brown: That message is not taught. That message needs to be taught. We tend to teach some of the secondary issues and let very verbal people, or the news people, get away with building fires up in people's hearts to get them to support one side or another. But the bomb was necessary. The bomb was used properly. We should have probably used our clout more during that period in history than we did. We had a symposium not too long ago "What were the mistakes that we made in the War". A huge
mistake was not being willing to have sharp armies, being prepared to use them when necessary, and making clear that we wanted peace rather than crooks running the world. Our issue now is how do we quit supporting the crooks. Mr. Cox: Well, with that, I think that we will conclude this interview. Once again, I thank you very much, Bill, for taking the time. It is always a pleasure for me who was a young man, a school kid,
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Brown. Brown was studying at the University of Texas at El Paso whe nhe joined the Army Air Force in 1942. Brown discusses his flight training, which occurred throughout Texas. With training cmplete, Brown was sent to Hawaii where he continued training with the 45th Fighter Squadron, 7th Air Force. Soon his unit was shipped to Iwo Jima where they flew bomber escort for bombing missions over the home islands of Japan. Brown was shot down over Yokahama and bailed out over the Tokyo Bay, where he was resuced by the USS Pipefish (SS-388). Brown was taken to Hawaii to recover and was eventually shipped back to the US, where he was discharged in September, 1945.
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