branch death_place death_date birth_place allegiance unit awards birth_date nickname rank article_title name
united states clear lake city , texas 10 march 1989 joplin , missouri usa 509th bomb wing distinguished 7 clusters purple heart flying cross with 1 cluster air medal with 09 august 1918 the great artiste lieutenant colonel kermit beahan
 kermit k. beahan
kermit beahan

kermit k. beahan -lrb- august 9 , 1918 -- march 10 , 1989 -rrb- was a career officer in the united states air force and its predecessor united states army air forces during world war ii .
he was the bombardier on the crew flying the boeing b-29 superfortress `` bockscar '' on august 9 , 1945 -lrb- his 27th birthday -rrb- , that dropped the second atomic bomb on nagasaki , japan .
he also participated in the first atomic mission that bombed hiroshima on august 6 , 1945 .
flying as part of the crew of `` the great artiste '' which was a reference to him , purportedly because he could `` hit a pickle barrel with a bomb from 30,000 feet '' or he was `` good with the fairer sex , '' his aircraft acted as the blast instrumentation support aircraft for the mission .
beahan attended rice university on a football scholarship during the 1930s .
in 1942 he joined the army air forces as an aviation cadet but washed out of pilot training , becoming a bombardier instead .
he was assigned to the 97th bombardment group and took part in the first b-17 raids in europe by boeing b-17 flying fortresses .
he flew 13 missions over europe , 17 missions over north africa , and five credited combat missions in the pacific with the 509th composite group -lrb- including the nagasaki sortie -rrb- .
he was shot down and crash-landed twice in north africa .
he returned to the united states as a bombing instructor in midland , texas .
in the summer of 1944 , he was recruited by colonel paul w. tibbets to be part of the 509th composite group , which was formed to deliver the atomic bomb .
the mission to bomb nagasaki was conducted on beahan 's 27th birthday .
admiral frederick l. ashworth , who participated on the mission as weaponeer , credited beahan with saving the mission from failure by finding an opening in the clouds by which to complete the required visual bombing of the city .
an estimated 35,000-40 ,000 people were killed outright by the bombing of nagasaki , the majority of whom were munitions workers .
following the japanese surrender , he returned to the united states as a crewman in the record-breaking 1945 japan -- washington flight under lieutenant general barney m. giles .
he remained in the air force until 1964 , retiring as a lieutenant colonel .
after his retirement , he worked as a technical writer for the engineering and construction firm brown & root through 1985 .
in 1985 , on the 40th anniversary of the nagasaki bombing , beahan said he would never apologize for the bombing , and that he had been thanked for his role by a group of 25 japanese .
he said the bombing was the `` best way out of a hell of a mess . ''
beahan hoped that he would forever remain the last man to have dropped an atomic bomb on people .
he died of heart attack in 1989 .
he was buried at the houston national cemetery .
