Russell Gackenbach served in the Air Force as a navigator on B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] bombers in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, 509th Composite Group. He was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1923 and lived there until he went into the service. He worked for Bethlehem Steel [Annotator’s Note: an American steelmaking company based out of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania] after high school. His father worked for a light company. He had six siblings, so his mother stayed home. Life was simple, but his family did not have a lot of money to do much. He joined the Boy Scouts [Annotator’s Note: The Boy Scouts of America; youth organization in the United States] to keep him busy as a child. He graduated from high school in 1941. He was away on the weekend with the Boy Scouts when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He learned on his way home about the news. He was very surprised, and still did not fully know what it meant. Gackenbach worked as an inspector for Bethlehem Steel. He inspected bomb and shell casings. He was asked to be the supervisor, but decided he wanted to serve in the military, so he resigned. In January 1943, he entered active duty and applied for Aviation Cadet School. He did basic training in Miami Beach [Annotator’s Note: Miami Beach, Florida]. After two months of basic training, he was sent to a university, and a month later, was accepted into the aviation program. He was sent to Nashville [Annotator’s Note: Nashville, Tennessee]. He was given several tests to determine what role would best suit him. He was then sent to Oklahoma to train on B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. His crew then flew to Wendover, Utah and stayed there until June 1945. His crew trained every day. He got his commission in February 1944. Gackenbach was the last member to join his crew, but on his way to Wendover, he was told that their bombardier was going to be replaced. He was happy with the replacement. He was eventually trained on a stripped-down B-29, and then received a new plane that could hold a 10,000 pound bomb.

Russell Gackenbach served in the Air Force as a navigator on B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] bombers in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, 509th Composite Group. Gackenbach liked the B-29 because it was pressurized, and he did not have to wear a special suit. He was selected to train for dropping a 10,000-pound bomb. He has no idea why his group was chosen for this task. His grandmother passed away and he went home for the funeral. His family asked him if he was in trouble because military personnel had visited his family and friends asking questions. [Annotator’s Note: Someone comes into the room at 0:21:38.000.] When the crew was sent overseas, they were stationed on Tinian [Annotator’s Note: Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands]. His group was sectioned off from the rest of the troops on the island. They ate separately from everyone else. While on Tinian, he continued training with his crew to get used to the weather conditions of the Pacific. On 5 August 1945, he went into a usual briefing. They told him not to fly into the cloud after the bomb was dropped, but to fly around it. The day after he dropped the bomb, he found out that he was part of the mission that had dropped the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] on Japan. Gackenbach photographed the mission. Gackenbach knew that his unit was training for a special mission, but he did not know the details of the bomb. He flew two combat missions before his mission over Hiroshima [Annotator’s Note: Hiroshima, Japan]. [Annotator’s Note: Cell phone rings in background at 0:20:09.000.]

On 6 August 1945, Russell Gackenbach was ordered on a special mission to Japan. At three o’clock in the morning, his plane, named Necessary Evil, took off and headed towards Iwo Jima [Annotator’s Note: Iwo Jima, Japan] to hook up with the Enola Gay and the Great Artiste [Annotator’s Note: all Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombers] and headed toward Hiroshima. As they neared the city, Gackenbach’s plane and The Great Artiste circled the outside area while Enola Gay went in and dropped the bomb on the target. When the scientist on the plane detonated the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. He felt the sonic boom affecting the plane. Everyone was quiet and subdued on the return. He could see the mushroom cloud a hundred miles away. He also saw the flash when the bomb went off. The sight was awesome. He hopes that no nation will ever set off a device like that again. The mission took 13 hours to complete. They were debriefed on their return. Gackenbach really did not understand what he witnessed until years later. On 9 August 1945, he flew in the Enola Gay plane as part of weather reconnaissance. He was then scheduled on another mission for 15 August, but it was canceled. Gackenbach returned to the United States in November 1945 and was given a 30-day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He was separated from service at Roswell, New Mexico in April 1946 with the rank of first lieutenant. He returned to service as a trainer during the Korean War.

Russell Gackenbach said that he would be part of the atomic bomb mission again if he was asked to do it. We were at war, and the Japanese started the war. He does not think that America could pull off those kinds of missions again. He is glad he was part of ending the war. Because of his serving in the military, he was able to go to school on the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment]. He feels honored to have served in World War 2. He travels to schools and other public events to share his stories. He does not know how America feels about World War 2 because they are too busy with other things. Gackenbach served in World War 2 because he felt compelled to do it and serve his country. He believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations because people need to understand history and how we evolved as a nation.