Thomas Ferebee
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Thomas Wilson Ferebee (November 9, 1918 – March 16, 2000) was the bombardier aboard the
B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined Propeller (aeronautics), propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to ...
, '' Enola Gay'', which dropped the atomic bomb " Little Boy" on
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...
in 1945.


Biography

Thomas Wilson Ferebee was born on a farm outside Mocksville, North Carolina, as the third of eleven children raised in a Methodist family. In 1935, at age 17, he attended Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, NC. Talented in athletics since childhood, he earned awards in track,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
, and
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
. After training for a small position with the
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and not making the team, he joined the
Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
. A knee injury kept him from service in the
infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...
but he was accepted into flight training. After two years of
flight school Flight training is a course of study used when learning to aviator, pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted un ...
, Ferebee was assigned as a bombardier in the
European theater The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main Theater (warfare), theatres of combat during World War II, taking place from September 1939 to May 1945. The Allies of World War II, Allied powers (including the United Kingdom, the ...
, completing more than 60 bombing missions. In the summer of 1944, he was recruited by
Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
Paul Tibbets to be part of the 509th Composite Group which was formed to drop the atomic bomb. Like Tibbets, Ferebee remained in the military in the years after World War II as the U.S. Army Air Forces became the U.S. Air Force. Ferebee spent most of his USAF career in the
Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...
, serving during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
and in Vietnam. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in December 1970 at McCoy AFB, Florida, as a master navigator (bombardier) with the rank of
colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
. He then worked as a real estate agent in and around
Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
. Like Tibbets, Ferebee never expressed regret for his role in the bombing, saying "it was a job that had to be done." He died at his home in Windermere, Florida, at the age of 81. He was survived by his wife, Mary Ann Ferebee, who donated his collection of military documents and objects to the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. Following Thomas Ferebee's death, singer-songwriter Rod MacDonald wrote "The Man Who Dropped The Bomb On Hiroshima," a song directly quoting him from an interview MacDonald did for Newsweek's "Where Are They Now" feature in July 1970. The song, on his album "Recognition," remembers Ferebee as referring to "the one big thing" he'd done, noting he'd visited Japan after the war and, after seeing "planes all tooled for suicide attacks, I left there thinking we'd made that war end sooner." He adds, "Someday when I meet my maker, I'll know then if my one big thing was right."


See also

*
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civili ...
* Kermit Beahan * Kyūjō incident *
Surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was Hirohito surrender broadcast, announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signed on 2 September 1945, End of World War II in Asia, ending ...


References


Bibliography

* Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II (1960), ''No High Ground'', New York: Harper and Row, . * Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts (1977), ''Enola Gay'', 1978 reprint, New York: Pocket Books, .


External links

*
Annotated Bibliography for Thomas Ferebee from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferebee, Thomas 1918 births 2000 deaths Lees–McRae College alumni Crew dropping the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki People from Mocksville, North Carolina People from Windermere, Florida Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Silver Star United States Air Force colonels United States Army Air Forces officers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Military personnel from North Carolina