by Clynt Ridgell, KUAM News Monday, August 15, 2005 Subscribe to Clynt's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

KUAM Video requires Flash 8. download it Here.

The Guam Visitor's Bureau along with Andersen Air Force Base held a commemoration ceremony by the Northwest Field to unveil a new monument dedicated to the men and women involved in the last missions of World War II flown out of Guam. The B-29 bombers of the 315th Bombardment Wing flew their first missions to Japan on June 26, the last mission of the wing and the war was completed on August 14, 1945.

The Northwest Field officially opened on June 1, 1945. It was here were the last U.S. missions of World War II were launched. The missions flown by the B-29 bombers of the 315th Bombardment Wing were what some historians say may have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Today the USAF and GVB unveiled a monument next to the Northwest Field commemorating these historical final missions.

Carl Peterson, director of the board of directors for GVB, told KUAM News, "After sixty years we are finally closing an open-ended circle 60 years ago today with the landings of the B-29's of the 315th bomb wing the hostilities of the great war came to an end."

Although atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, it was the missions launched from Guam to bomb the oil fields and oil refineries on Japan that were the last missions of the war. Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Burch is the grandson of George Richard Green, a flight engineer on one of the B-29's who flew in this final mission. He says he's heard many stories of the wonderful people and the beautiful island of Guam and is both happy and honored to be stationed here.

Said Peterson of the men, "[We're] very proud to be a part of this tradition they sacrificed their lives some of them and a great deal of time."

Lt. Colonel Paul Tibets, the operations officer for the 325th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, is also honored and proud to be a part of today's ceremony. He too is connected to the war, as his grandfather was the pilot of the famous Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan. He says it has a lot to do with just remembering the heroes and adds that folks like his grandfather would be the first to tell anyone that he was not a hero just a man doing what his country asked of him.

He, on the other hand, feels that his grandfather and those involved in the final missions were indeed all heroes. He said, "The men who served out of these islands particularly on those missions on August 14 really brought it to an end." Tibets feels because these men answered the call of their country to fly out to Japan for the last fight of the war, they ought to be remembered as heroes.