Jacob Beser
Encyclopedia
Jacob Beser was a lieutenant in the United States
Army Air Forces who served during World War II
. Beser was the radar specialist aboard the Enola Gay
on August 6, 1945, when it dropped the "Little Boy
" atomic bomb on Hiroshima
. Three days later, Beser was aboard Bock's Car when "Fat Man
" was dropped on Nagasaki. He was the only person to have served as a strike crew member of both missions.
, Maryland
where he attended the Baltimore City College
high school graduating in 1938. Beser then studied mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University
but dropped out the day after Pearl Harbor
to enlist in the Army Air Forces. He was Jewish and extremely restless to get into the fight against Hitler. Because of his training and educational background Beser was sent to Los Alamos
and worked on the Manhattan Project
in the area of weapons firing and fusing. There he met or worked with various illuminaries in the Manhattan Project, such as Robert B. Brode, Norman Ramsey, Niels Bohr
, Enrico Fermi
, Edward Doll, and General Leslie Groves
.
, was activated at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, December 17, 1944. The crews trained with practice bombs called “pumpkins
” because of their size and shape, which was the same as “Fat Man
” atomic bomb. The 509th deployed to Tinian
in the Marianas in May 1945. It was a self-contained unit, with personnel strength of about 1,770 soldiers, mechanics, specialists and aviators. It consisted of the 393rd Bomber Squadron, the 320th Troop Carrier Squadron, the 390th Air Service Group, the 603rd Air Engineering Squadron, the 1027th Air Materiel Squadron, the 1395th Military Police Company, and the First Ordnance Squadron (in charge of handling the atomic bombs).
On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare was dropped over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, instantly killing 90,000 civilians and military personnel. The thirteen-hour mission to Hiroshima began at 0245 Tinian time. By the time the Enola Gay rendezvoused with its accompanying B-29s at 0607 over Iwo Jima, the group was three hours from the target area. Little Boy's detonation was triggered by radars on the bomb that measured its altitude as it fell. Beser's job was to monitor those radars and ensure that there was no interference that could have prematurely detonated it. The bomb fell away from the aircraft at 0915:17 Tinian time. Beser did not visually watch the bomb detonate but he heard the bomb's radar signals switch on and then cut off at the moment the intense light generated by its detonation filled the plane.
Three days later in Bockscar
, Beser repeated this task over Nagasaki with Fat Man
, the plutonium implosion bomb that become the second and last atomic bomb used in warfare.
, in New Mexico. He came home to Baltimore and in the mid-1950s began a long career working on defense projects for Westinghouse.
When asked about his atomic bomb missions on numerous interviews, Beser made the following response:
Beser was an amateur ("ham") radio operator
, holding the callsign W3NOD.
He died of natural causes in 1992 and was survived by his wife Sylvia, their four sons, and nine grandchildren. Before he died, he wrote his own book about the experiences of flying on both flights. The book is called "Hiroshima & Nagasaki Revisited" written in 1988.
Hiroshima: Hubertus Hoffmann meets the only U.S. Officer on both A-Missions and one of his Victims
Beser, Jacob, 1988, Hiroshima & Nagasaki Revisited, Global Press, Memphis, TN, ISBN 0-9615206-7-1.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Army Air Forces who served during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Beser was the radar specialist aboard the Enola Gay
Enola Gay
Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of the pilot, then-Colonel Paul Tibbets. On August 6, 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb as a weapon of war...
on August 6, 1945, when it dropped the "Little Boy
Little Boy
"Little Boy" was the codename of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets of the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, of the United States Army Air Forces. It was the first atomic bomb to be used as a weapon...
" atomic bomb on Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
. Three days later, Beser was aboard Bock's Car when "Fat Man
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
" was dropped on Nagasaki. He was the only person to have served as a strike crew member of both missions.
Background
Jacob Beser grew up in BaltimoreBaltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
where he attended the Baltimore City College
Baltimore City College
The Baltimore City College , also referred to as The Castle on the Hill, historically as The College, and most commonly City, is a public high school in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. The City College curriculum includes the International Baccalaureate Programme and emphasizes study in the classics...
high school graduating in 1938. Beser then studied mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
but dropped out the day after Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
to enlist in the Army Air Forces. He was Jewish and extremely restless to get into the fight against Hitler. Because of his training and educational background Beser was sent to Los Alamos
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
and worked on the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
in the area of weapons firing and fusing. There he met or worked with various illuminaries in the Manhattan Project, such as Robert B. Brode, Norman Ramsey, Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr
Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in...
, Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
, Edward Doll, and General Leslie Groves
Leslie Groves
Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves, Jr. was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. As the son of a United States Army chaplain, Groves lived at a...
.
The Mission
The unit that dropped the atomic bombs, 509th Composite Group509th Composite Group
The 509th Composite Group was a United States Army Air Forces unit created during World War II, and tasked with operational deployment of nuclear weapons...
, was activated at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, December 17, 1944. The crews trained with practice bombs called “pumpkins
Pumpkin bomb
Pumpkin bombs were conventional high explosive aerial bombs developed by the Manhattan Project and used by the United States Army Air Forces against Japan during World War II...
” because of their size and shape, which was the same as “Fat Man
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
” atomic bomb. The 509th deployed to Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
in the Marianas in May 1945. It was a self-contained unit, with personnel strength of about 1,770 soldiers, mechanics, specialists and aviators. It consisted of the 393rd Bomber Squadron, the 320th Troop Carrier Squadron, the 390th Air Service Group, the 603rd Air Engineering Squadron, the 1027th Air Materiel Squadron, the 1395th Military Police Company, and the First Ordnance Squadron (in charge of handling the atomic bombs).
On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare was dropped over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, instantly killing 90,000 civilians and military personnel. The thirteen-hour mission to Hiroshima began at 0245 Tinian time. By the time the Enola Gay rendezvoused with its accompanying B-29s at 0607 over Iwo Jima, the group was three hours from the target area. Little Boy's detonation was triggered by radars on the bomb that measured its altitude as it fell. Beser's job was to monitor those radars and ensure that there was no interference that could have prematurely detonated it. The bomb fell away from the aircraft at 0915:17 Tinian time. Beser did not visually watch the bomb detonate but he heard the bomb's radar signals switch on and then cut off at the moment the intense light generated by its detonation filled the plane.
Three days later in Bockscar
Bockscar
Bockscar, sometimes called Bock's Car or Bocks Car, is the name of the United States Army Air Forces B-29 bomber that dropped the "Fat Man" nuclear weapon over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, the second atomic weapon used against Japan....
, Beser repeated this task over Nagasaki with Fat Man
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
, the plutonium implosion bomb that become the second and last atomic bomb used in warfare.
Later life
In 1946, Beser was one of the founding members of Sandia National LaboratoriesSandia National Laboratories
The Sandia National Laboratories, managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation , are two major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratories....
, in New Mexico. He came home to Baltimore and in the mid-1950s began a long career working on defense projects for Westinghouse.
When asked about his atomic bomb missions on numerous interviews, Beser made the following response:
- "For years I have been asked two questions. (1) Would you do it again? (2) Do you feel any guilt for having been a part of Hiroshima's destruction?
- "One has to consider the context of the times in which decisions are made. Given the same set of circumstances as existed in 1945, I would not hesitate to take part in another similar mission.
- "No I feel no sorrow or remorse for whatever small role I played. That I should is crazy. I remember Pearl Harbor and all of the Japanese atrocities. I remember the shock to our nation that all of this brought. I don't want to hear any discussion of morality. War, by its very nature, is immoral. Are you any more dead from an atomic bomb than from a conventional bomb?"
Beser was an amateur ("ham") radio operator
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
, holding the callsign W3NOD.
He died of natural causes in 1992 and was survived by his wife Sylvia, their four sons, and nine grandchildren. Before he died, he wrote his own book about the experiences of flying on both flights. The book is called "Hiroshima & Nagasaki Revisited" written in 1988.
Additional reading
Also see: The Enola Gay: the Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb (1980)(TV)http://italian.imdb.com/title/tt0080689/Hiroshima: Hubertus Hoffmann meets the only U.S. Officer on both A-Missions and one of his Victims
Beser, Jacob, 1988, Hiroshima & Nagasaki Revisited, Global Press, Memphis, TN, ISBN 0-9615206-7-1.