photo by Ed Shannon

Ray Katzung, a resident of Hidden Creek, holds a copy of the book, “Return of the Enola Gay,” which was autographed by the author, Paul W. Tibbetts. The book reminds him of his service on Tinian Island during World War II where he watched as Tibbetts’ B-29, named the “Enola Gay,” was loaded with the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945.

A Witness To History

Man shares memories of the Enola Gay

By Ed Shannon | Albert Lea Tribune

Published Saturday, August 23, 2008

What may be one of the first photos of the B-29 Superfortress aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, was taken by Ray Katzung of Albert Lea.

In August 1945, he was an aircraft mechanic in the 58th Bomb Wing of the 20th Air Force stationed on Tinian Island in the western Pacific Ocean. This former part of the Japanese Empire had been taken by U.S. Marines in July 1944. The island was a part of the Marianas, which included nearby Saipan, site of one of the most brutal battles of World War II. Another island in this chain was Guam, which had been an American possession since 1898. It was taken by the Japanese in December 1941, and liberated by the U.S. in 1944. All three islands, and especially Tinian, became bases for the aerial bombing raids on the Japanese home islands to the north.

One of Katzung’s favorite off-duty activities was photography. He especially liked to take photos of the nose cones of the large bombers. Most of these aircraft had portraits of rather scantily clad young ladies, then called pinups, and a usually clever nickname. What has to be the best example of this was on a bomber called the “Memphis Belle” that later became the basis for a popular war film.

One day Katzung happened to see a B-29 with the name of “Enola Gay.” He took a photo of this aircraft and developed the film later in an improvised lab using an army blanket cover as his dark room.

“I used 35mm Argus camera I bought for $12.50 at Wulff’s Jewelry near the Broadway Theater,” he aid. “I still have the camera around here somewhere.”

What Katzung didn’t know at the time was that the name Enola Gay had been painted on the nose cone of this particular aircraft just a few days earlier. The bomber’s pilot was Colonel Paul W. Tibbetts and he had selected his mother’s name for the aircraft which became a major factor in abruptly ending the war in the Asiatic Pacific Theater during August 1945.

Katzung was born and grew up in Albert Lea and graduated from high school in 1942. He worked for a few months at Northwest Airlines in St. Paul, and was drafted into the military service in late 1942. Thus, Katzung became a member of the U.S. Army Air Force. After basic training at Buckley Field near Denver, Colo., he was assigned to preflight training at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and later at Santa Ana, Calif., where he “washed out” of the program. He then went to a mechanics school at Amarillo, Texas. This was followed by a cruise on a troopship to Tinian Island for assignment to a ground crew in the 58th Bomb Wing.

Sometime later another unit of the 20th Air Force began to arrive at this island base. This was the elite 509th Composite Group. He noticed that their B-29s had different propellers and enlarged bomb bay doors. Also, a portion of their area was patrolled by military police and fenced off.

The 509th was a specially trained unit which would be used to drop atomic bombs on Japan. However, at that time only a very, very few Americans knew the nation had developed an extremely powerful new secret weapon.

One evening Katzung was attending an outdoor movie. The film showing, he said, was interupted by a colonel who told the audience that “what happens tomorrow will change history.”

As a result of this and some rumors, Katzung was one of the soldiers who sat on a hillside the next day to watch as a huge object was loaded into the Enola Gay. They had no idea as to what this object really was because it was covered with a tarpaulin. This was “Little Boy,” a 9,000- pound atomic bomb.

Katzung and the soldiers watched as the object on a trailer towed by a tractor was backed down a ramp into a trench dug for this mission. Then the Enola Gay was brought over the trench and this object was hoisted up into the bomb bay.

“I was there when the bomb was loaded. I saw the bomb bay doors close,” he said.

“There’s a replica of this bomb at the aircraft museum over in Oshkosh,” Katzung added.

The military personnel on Tinian, or people elsewhere in the world had absolutely no idea as to what was going on. Yet, he and several others knew something major was taking place. As a result, they were able to intercept a portion of the radio conversation when the Enola Gay came back to Tinian some 12 hours later.

This was about the time news was developing that a strange new weapon, just one bomb, had nearly destroyed Hiroshima and killed thousands of Japanese.

“We talked later with (Pfc. Richard N.) Nelson, the Enola Gay’s radio operator,” Katzung explained.

Three days later another modified B-29 from the 509th named “Bock’s Car” dropped a second atom bomb called “Fat Man,” on the Urakami suburb of Nagasaki, Japan. Five days later the Japanese government surrendered and World War II ended.

Sgt. Katzung returned to the U.S. on what he calls a “sunset cruise” (a troopship) in the spring of 1946 and was discharged from military service. He soon went to work at the Albert Lea Post Office and for a few years hauled mail every day, except holidays and Sundays, from the local post office to St. Clair and Mankato and back. Later, he became a postal clerk.

After just over 35 years in the postal service, he worked for another 20 years with the surveyors of the Jones, Haugh and Smith firm. Katzung finally retired in September 2002.

He is now a resident at Hidden Creek. His wife, Ellen, is a resident at Oak Park Place.

They have three children. Brad lives in Oklahoma City, Reed lives in Mandan, N.D., and Nancy resides in Plymouth. They also have four grandchildren.

Katzung has several mementos from his World War II service. For example, there are three books about the Enola Gay. One is a 1977 Pocket Books publication by Gordon Thomas and Max Witts. Two books, “Flight of the Enola Gay,” and “Return of the Enola Gay,” are by Paul W. Tibbetts, this aircraft’s famous pilot.

The last named book is very special for Katzung. On Aug. 7, 1999, he and the Rev. Jerry Merkouris , then pastor of Albert Lea’s Salem Lutheran Church, went to an air show at St. Paul’s Holman Field. And Tibbetts happened to be at this show.

Tibbetts retired in 1966 from the U.S. Air Force with the rank of brigadier general. When he saw Katzung, who was wearing a cap with the 20th Air Force emblem, Tibbetts came up to him and they had a short visit. Thus, Katzung now has an autographed copy of the book written by the pilot of the aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb in history.