Customer Reviews

Fire of a Thousand Suns

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I've been fascinated (and scared) of nuclear weapons ever since I first heard what they were and how destructive they can be when I was just a young boy. My recent research has lead me to look in places beyond the usual books and when I found out that Bob Caron had written an autobiography that included his experience, I knew I had to have the book.

If you don't know, George Robert "Bob" Caron was the tailgunner in the B-29, Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. As he boarded the Enola Gay, Caron was unexpectedly handed a camera and told to take pictures of the explosion. Being in the tailgunner's position, he would have THE view of the explosion as the Enola Gay raced away from the city to avoid being blown from the sky. Although other official cameras were aboard other planes that accompanied Enola Gay to Hiroshima that day, Caron's images of the climbing mushroom cloud were really the only pictures that turned out. Within days, they would end up appearing on flyers that were planned to be dropped over Japan to encourage capitulation, and would be printed in newspapers all over the world. Those historic photos serve as graphic testimony of man's ability to create destruction.

I personally found the material not involving the bomb to be a bit dry but this is his story, told his way. His family and friends can enjoy knowing that Bob's memories were preserved here in this book that was published shortly before his death in the mid-1990's. His military service with the Hiroshima mission and the work with the 509th leading up to that will be of interest to those wanting to know more about the bombing.