1945

1945: The End of The World as We Know It

The headlines might have read…” Scientists miscalculate extreme power of Atomic Bomb” …had there been any newspapers around to still report such news.

A mission to end the war of all wars.

It was August 6, 1945, and Captain Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. a pilot in the United States Air Force, prepared his B-29 bomber airplane for take-off on his mission to deliver the first combat era nuclear payload on Hiroshima, Japan, a retaliation for Japan’s earlier bombing of Pearl Harbor, and a move designed to end World War II once and for all.

The devastation on the island of Japan was expected to be considerable, with estimates of death casualties to be 400,000 or more. This well thought and calculated plan was designed with one objective…eliminate any further war action by the enemy.

Captain Tibbets knew the fate of the war rest on his shoulders…what he did not realize was the future of the planet was now at stake as well. After a long, sleepless night, he rose early that morning and ate breakfast with his longtime sweetheart and newly engaged fiancée Shirley Sandowski, a news feature, public relations correspondent with the State Department of International Affairs. The young couple had decided to marry when Tibbets returned from his important mission, and she gave him her heart-shaped locket to carry with him for good luck. The morning meal conversation focused mainly on their bright future ahead, and their wonderful plans upon his return. Finally, after a long embrace and a last kiss goodbye, the young Captain left for the airbase, confident that God’s will was on his side.

By 2:45 a.m. his craft was airborne. By 8:15 a.m., the massive payload released, and the captain and crew watched their nuclear bomb dropping steadily downward toward an island filled with people they, or anyone else, would never know.

And devastating it was. As if they had dropped the sun itself upon the island, an immediate firestorm appeared as it hit, resembling what could only be described as true hell on earth, with an enormous mushroom cloud racing skyward.

Despite this being the very first atomic bombing in history, the entire crew immediately knew something terribly amiss. The fires below grew wider and fiercer as the seconds passed, and the cloud mushroomed above and beyond the heavens as if it were propelled by lightening. They had expected it to be big, but this was far beyond anything imaginable.

It moved so quickly across the skies, it now appeared as if it were chasing their seemingly tiny B-29, forcing them to change course in any direction they could to avoid being engulfed themselves in uranium-laden flames. With primary winds blowing north-west, the pilot finally escaped the fireball in a south-easterly direction. With nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see, Captain Tibbets instantly became aware that the only possible landing site would now be Australia. Panic struck him almost as quickly as the fire of flames, as he was now confronted with two major life or death concerns…would he have the fuel to make it the over 4,000 miles to the island down under? If he could make it, would he possibly be able to land the aircraft in such a desolate and unchartered territory? He silently said a prayer feeling his life was now in the hands of God himself.

Theory presented as science.

What Captain Tibbets did not know was he and his crew were the lucky ones on that fateful day. In effort to gain world-wide superiority in this new, nuclear arms race, the scientists and developers of this unknown and unproven technology had some major design errors in calculating the potential power of their new weaponry.

What was expected to eliminate a population of approximately 400,000 people maximum over an area radius of 300 miles, the explosive yield of this bomb was in fact equal to over 10.5 million tons of TNT and had potential to travel the circumference of the earth almost two times.

The use of this bomb without the ability to test for accurate data would result in the ultimate doomsday pill. Yes, the war would end, but so would life on earth as they formerly knew it. Within 96 hours the entire world population of over 2.25 billion people would certainly be lost. As the trade winds reached tornado like speed, this nuclear disaster would indeed wipe out almost every living being on the planet. Almost.

Every mushroom cloud has a glowing silver lining.

Fate can often be a strange and amazing thing. Back in Washington, DC, Captain Tibbets fiancée Shirley still had her government job to do, and without knowing the outcome of her beau’s mission just yet, she received orders to fly to Port Warrender, a city on the coast off the Indian Ocean, and in of all places…Australia.

Her assignment was to develop relations with the local governing bodies down under to acquire native species of dolphins and other sea creatures for a new national zoo aquarium exhibit in Washington DC. The government had a confidence the war would be soon ending, and officials were hell-bent in demonstrating to the American public that life would soon be better than ever.

It would be almost 5 more hours of erratic flying before Captain Tibbets finally saw the coast of Australia on the horizon. His one fear of running out of fuel had been eliminated, and he now realized he would reach dry land on barely more than fumes, but he would make his new destination. Getting the plane safely grounded was now his gravest new concern.

As he approached the coast, he could see large fields of what he would later learn to be gum trees, a thick Eucalyptus bush plant that seemingly stretched for miles. With no roads in sight, and certainly no landing strips, he knew their only chance of survival would be to glide into the gum fields and crash land among the massive greenery. As his approach neared and his fuel supply vanished, he expertly managed to skid the aircraft along the earthy surface and safely bring his plane and crew to its final standstill. His energy spent as if he were a heavyweight fighter who just endured a 15 round title bout, he kissed his good luck locket and said a thank you prayer to the big guy upstairs.

For the next few days, he and his crew managed to survive by foraging for food. They stayed with the severely damaged aircraft thinking the on-board radar beacon would give their rescuers their position. But those rescuers would never come. What the men were not aware of, is the world around them was dead or dying. The only place on earth to be spared the atomic devastation was the island continent of Australia. The worlds population days earlier was estimated at 2.5 billion. Within the next two weeks, the numbers would drop to approximately 7 million, all residing in the land down under. For some unexplainable reason, the swirling winds surrounding the island saved them from the nuclear disaster that destroyed all life worldwide.

Silence is not always golden.

Days would turn into weeks, weeks into months, and still no sign of rescue. There would be no telegraph messages from afar, and no incoming aircraft or ships. New telephone technology was still in its infancy down under, long distance calls had never yet developed in Australia, so that gave no indication either. What little communication the Aussie natives did have before, it had all gone silent.

Much time would pass before the nightmarish discovery that would shock the island from coast to coast…the reality that they were all that was left. While there were no incoming ships or planes, there were those that left as usual for other destinations. One by one they left, and one by one they would all return…. return with news of the horrors they had learned. Everything was gone. Everyone was dead.

Life must go on.

The native population of Australia had always been primarily a secluded nation. Mainly isolated from the rest of the world, most were largely unaffected by the news. Seven million residents largely able to live life in a fashion they always had. For the most part, their lives remained unchanged.

A much smaller percentage of islanders were new in the community…transplants from other nations, like the American crew members forced to make the new land their home. This demographic of people had to mourn the loss of family, friends, fellow countrymen…the people and places they loved, the places they once called home. It would take years for those relatively few foreigners to adjust to this strange new way of life, to adapt and rebuild. Certainly, they would in time recognize that they were indeed the lucky ones, survivors of the greatest disaster in the world’s history. Fate would have placed them in the right place at the right time. Each had their own unique story…their own tale to tell.

Fate unknown is a mysterious thing.

Which brings us back to our beloved Captain Tibbets and what was ever to become of him. He would be found some two years later no longer a military man but an outdoorsman living a sustainable existence as a hunter, trapper, fisherman and forager in a nondescript shack along the western coast.

Living alone, at times wondering what lies ahead, dreaming of things that might have been, but were not meant to be. He desperately tried to rid the thoughts of guilt from his mind that placed much of the blame for the disastrous events squarely on his shoulders.

He thought often of his brief experience with true happiness and the love he felt for the sweetheart he once had. There were far too many nights he cried thinking of how she perished. Finally, he then would remind himself that it was better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all…a sentiment that always sounded encouraging to him, yet he could never genuinely believe it so.

He feared the thoughts of guilt, anxiety, and hopelessness would one day be his undoing. Too many times wishing and dreaming how wonderful it would be if he were to see his beloved Shirley one last time… that if he could only tell her once again of the happiness, she had instilled in him.

There were many times he thought he had seen her walking along the shore or entering the general store when he would be bringing his freshly harvested pelts for trade. It all seemed so entirely real that he had incredible urges to approach her. His thoughts of losing his mind would prevent it. If others in the community did not already think him a fool, chasing the ghost of a dead woman certainly would seal the deal.

It was a hermit like existence for another eight years or so, until one day the thoughts of loneliness, guilt, unhappiness, and sorrow became too much to overcome, even for this former military man to withstand. You could say it accurate that the self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest was his cause of death. The more precise reality was his demise occurred long before that…the death of a broken heart.

They would discover his remains on the beach along the shoreline where he had so often thought he had seen in the distance his beautiful fiancée. He had a tightly clenched fist, held so tight, they had to pry his fingers open to discover what he was holding. It was a small, heart-shaped locket with a faded picture inside and an inscription… “forever together, Paul & Shirley 1945”.