Hiroshima Diary

When Army Air Force Captain Robert A. Lewis set off toward Hiroshima as copilot of the Enola Gay on Aug. 6, 1945, he began a brief log of the mission, scribbling on the backs of War Department forms. Last week the diary was auctioned off at Manhattan's Parke-Bernet Galleries for $37,000 to a rare-manuscript dealer. In it, there was a glimpse, as in a time-lapse film, of the moment when men first used the Bomb against one another.

Lewis was on hand for the auction, and he read some of the diary aloud. It had first been published in 1946--but 25 years later, his voice gave his words a special poignancy: "At 0730 we loaded. The bomb is now alive and it's a funny feeling knowing it's right in back of you. Knock wood . . . We started our climb to 30,000 feet at 0740. Well, folks, it's not long now." As the B-29 let the Bomb go: "For the next minute no one knew what would happen. The bombardier and the right seat jockey or pilot both forgot to put on their dark glasses and therefore witnessed the flash. Then in about 15 seconds after the flash, there were two very distinct slaps, then that was all the physical effect we felt.

"We then turned the ship so we could observe results . . . The city was 90% covered with smoke and a large column of white cloud, which in less than three minutes reached 30,000 feet and then went at least 50,000 . . . Just how many Japs did we kill? I honestly have the feeling of groping for words to explain this or I might say My God what have we done."

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