Enola Gay Crewman Dies

Enola Gay Crewman Dies: Former Lt. Morris R. Jeppson, who served as assistant weaponeer on the B-29 Enola Gay when it dropped the atom bomb on Japan on Aug. 6, 1945, died March 30. He was 87. According to an Associated Press report, the mission that helped end World War II was Jeppson’s only combat mission. AP reports that in a 2003 interview, Jeppson recalled the bombing as “a devastating thing” but one that “probably saved hundreds of thousands of American lives and many more Japanese lives.” After the war, reported the New York Times, he worked on nuclear projects for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and started a company that made high-power microwave heating systems. (Also read UPI report)