Ces derniers jours, tous les articles sur la question sont dans la même veine, où on lit des "Mon Dieu, qu’avons-nous fait ?" (ainsi que la traduction littérale de "son of a bitch" par "fils de p*te", alors que le sens est celui de "salaud", mais ça, c'est un détail technique ;-)
En farfouillant un peu sur les Internets, on apprend des tas de choses intéressantes, et un brin pour fouillées que le "Mon Dieu, qu’avons-nous fait ?" du Capitaine Lewis (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Lewis).
Par exemple que ledit capitaine Lewis a en fait été remplacé par Paul Tibbets (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tibbets) au poste de pilote de l'Enola Gay (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay#Hiroshima_mission)... donc qu'il n'était même pas dans l'avion ;-)
EDIT: A confirmer, parce qu'une autre page Wikipédia (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Lewis) le désigne comme co-pilote.
Et dans son interview (
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/06/nuclear.japan), Paul Tibbets ne le cite même pas parmi les membres d'équipage.
Autre chose surprenante, la réponse de Paul Tibbets à la question : "Avec le recul, que pensez-vous de la bombe ?"
"Je savais que nous faisions la bonne chose. Quand j'ai su que nous allions larguer cette bombe, j'ai su que nous allions tuer beaucoup de gens, mais nous allions aussi sauver beaucoup de vies, car nous n'aurons pu besoin d'envahir le Japon."
Autres morceaux choisis :
Paul Tibbets: (lors de la réunion où il a appris l'existence du projet Manhattan et la teneur de sa future mission) Then he [General Ent, commander of the second air force] laid out what was going on and it was up to me now to put together an organisation and train them to drop atomic weapons on both Europe and the Pacific - Tokyo.
(...)
(En 1948, à la Maison blanche) Then he [President Truman] looked at me for 10 seconds and he didn't say anything. And when he finally did, he said, "What do you think?" I said, "Mr President, I think I did what I was told." He slapped his hand on the table and said: "You're damn right you did, and I'm the guy who sent you. If anybody gives you a hard time about it, refer them to me."
(...)
Studs Terkel: Do you ever have any second thoughts about the bomb?
Paul Tibbets: (...) I knew we did the right thing because when I knew we'd be doing that I thought, yes, we're going to kill a lot of people, but by God we're going to save a lot of lives. We won't have to invade [Japan].
(...)
Studs Terkel: Why did they drop the second one, the Bockscar [bomb] on Nagasaki?
Paul Tibbets: Unknown to anybody else (...) there was a third one. See, the first bomb went off and they didn't hear anything out of the Japanese for two or three days. The second bomb was dropped and again they were silent for another couple of days. Then I got a phone call from General Curtis LeMay [chief of staff of the strategic air forces in the Pacific]. He said, "You got another one of those damn things?" I said, "Yessir." He said, "Where is it?" I said, "Over in Utah." He said, "Get it out here. You and your crew are going to fly it." I said, "Yessir." I sent word back and the crew loaded it on an airplane and we headed back to bring it right on out to Trinian and when they got it to California debarkation point, the war was over.
(...)
Studs Terkel: One last thing, when you hear people say, "Let's nuke 'em," "Let's nuke these people," what do you think?
Paul Tibbets: "Oh, I wouldn't hesitate if I had the choice. I'd wipe 'em out. You're gonna kill innocent people at the same time, but we've never fought a damn war anywhere in the world where they didn't kill innocent people."
Voir aussi : "Declassified photos from Tinian Island as the B-29 'Enola Gay' was being loaded'
http://shaarli.callmematthi.eu/?pGJRVA