War and Remembrance

By Hugh Sidey

War is hell, and its commemoration, while less lethal, can be just as bedeviling. For the past eight years, technicians at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum have been meticulously restoring the Enola Gay, the B-29 that in 1945 dropped the first atom bomb, destroying Hiroshima and leading to the end of World War II. An exhibit centered on the front section of the plane's fuselage is scheduled for next year's 50th anniversary of the bombing. But Air Force veterans have seen the 559-page proposal for the show. And they are feeling nuked.

The display, say the vets, is tilted against the U.S., portraying it as an unfeeling aggressor, while paying an inordinate amount of attention to Japanese suffering. Too little is made of Tokyo's atrocities, the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor or the recalcitrance of Japan's military leaders in the late stages of the war -- the catalyst for the deployment of atomic weapons. John T. Correll, editor in chief of Air Force Magazine, noted that in the first draft there were 49 photos of Japanese casualties, against only three photos of American casualties. By his count there were four pages of text on Japanese atrocities, while there were 79 pages devoted to Japanese casualties and the civilian suffering, from not only the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki but also conventional B-29 bombing. The Committee for the Restoration and Display of the Enola Gay now has 9,000 signatures of protest. The Air Force Association claims the proposed exhibition is "a slap in the face to all Americans who fought in World War II" and "treats Japan and the U.S. as if their participation in the war were morally equivalent."

Politicians are getting in on the action. A few weeks ago, Kansas Senator Nancy Kassebaum fired off a letter to Robert McCormick Adams, secretary of the Smithsonian. She called the proposal "a travesty" and suggested that "the famed B-29 be displayed with understanding and pride in another museum. Any one of three Kansas museums."

Adams, who is leaving his job after 10 relatively controversy-free years, sent back a three-page answer stiffly turning down her request for the Enola Gay. The proposed script, he says, was in flux, and would be "objective," treat U.S. airmen as "skilled, brave, loyal" and would not make a judgment on "the morality of the decision ((to drop the bomb))."

Meanwhile curators Tom Crouch and Michael Neufeld, who are responsible for the content of the display, deny accusations of political correctness. Crouch claims that the critics have a "reluctance to really tell the whole story. They want to stop the story when the bomb leaves the bomb bay." Crouch and Neufeld's proposed display includes a "Ground Zero" section, described as the emotional center of the gallery. Among the sights: charred bodies in the rubble, the ruins of a Shinto shrine, a heat-fused rosary, items belonging to dead schoolchildren. The curators have proposed a PARENTAL DISCRETION sign for the show.

The veterans, for their part, say they are well aware of the grim nature of the subject. They are not asking for a whitewash. "Nobody is looking for glorification," says Correll. "Just be fair. Tell both sides."

With reporting by Jerry Hannifin/Washington