In 1944, he was told that he had been chosen for a top-secret bombing mission that could help end World War II.
“He always wanted to share something with people.”Ī veteran of 58 World War II combat missions over Europe and Africa, Van Kirk had plenty of stories to share. “He was a very passionate man who loved to be around people and loved a good joke,” said DeLisle said, president and CEO of An Airman’s Story Foundation, which has chronicled Van Kirk’s story. He said Van Kirk was an excellent speaker who could carry a crowd and handle criticism gracefully. Military historian Leon DeLisle, of Ross, first met Van Kirk in Novato in the 1980s. Family members said he died from age-related causes. 6, 1945 that killed 80,000 people and hurried the war’s end eight days later. Van Kirk was the last surviving member of the Enola Gay’s 12-member crew, which was responsible for dropping the atomic bomb on Aug. Longtime Novato resident Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk, a navigator who guided the Enola Gay bomber over Hiroshima during World War II to drop the first nuclear bomb in the history of warfare, died Monday at an assisted living center in Stone Mountain, Ga.
