In spring 1945, the war in Europe drew to a close while the battle in the Pacific raged on and an allied invasion of Japan seemed imminent. He remained friends with bombardier Tom Ferebee and pilot Paul Tibbets until their deaths in 20 respectively. But I just could not see how they could continue the war and subject their people to that.' 'Look, we did what we had to do,' he says. The bomb killed an estimated 100,000 Japanese, but it ended the war and precluded an invasion of Japan, and Van Kirk says he has no regrets. Just that maybe it would shorten the war.' 'We didn't know at first what we were going to do.
