Theodore
J. Van Kirk
was born February
27, 1921 in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. After high school, he attended
Susquehanna University and worked in a grocery store before joining the
Air Cadet program of the Army Air Corps in October 1941. He graduated
from
navigation school and in April 1942 was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant
at Kelly Field,
Texas. "Dutch"
was then assigned to the 97th Bomb Group, flying B17 missions out of
England as
a navigator with the crew of pilot, Paul Tibbets and bombardier, Tom
Ferebee, flying most of those missions in the lead aircraft.
Van Kirk flew 58
missions in England and North Africa before returning to the United
States. He was assigned to navigation training and in November 1944
became group navigator of
the 509th
Composite Group, training for atom bomb delivery. Quietly, in June 1945,
the group
started moving overseas to the Pacific Island of Tinian in the Marianas
chain. Their familiar arrowhead tail markings were changed on both sides
to the letter "R" in a circle,
standard
identification for the Sixth Bomb Group. The idea behind this change was
to confuse
the enemy if they made contact, which they did not.
On August 6,
1945, Ted "Dutch" Van Kirk was navigator on the first atomic bombing
mission.
At 2:30am, the Enola Gay lifted off North Field enroute to Hiroshima,
Japan. "I knew when
we hit the coast
of Japan we were well on the way to completing a successful mission and
the new
bomb we carried would be a great help in shortening the war." At exactly
09:15:15, the world's first atomic bomb exploded. When the Enola Gay
landed back on Tinian Island at 2:58pm, the plane and crew were greeted
by General Spaatz, a large contingent of brass and jubilant GIs. Van
Kirk later participated in the first Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests.
Among his decorations are the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross
and Air Medal with
fourteen oak
leaf clusters, plus many Theater awards.
In August 1946,
having reached the rank of Major, Van Kirk returned to civilian life. He
went back
to his long-delayed college career earning both a BS and MS degree in
chemical engineering at Bucknell University. After 35 years with a major
chemical company, he retired
in 1985.
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