![flight crew on the enola gay flight crew on the enola gay](https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/psh-ex-ftnikkei-3937bb4/images/2/6/3/4/624362-8-eng-GB/20170806_enolagay_body.jpg)
An invasion that would have cost tens of thousands of Japanese and Allied lives. It was his decision and his hope to avoid an invasion of the Japanese homeland. Truman approved the order to use the atomic bomb.
![flight crew on the enola gay flight crew on the enola gay](https://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/5502557046001/f655c411-b987-4d0d-8d43-83858d6a6e0e/0ed240de-325a-431e-af4c-845808ff0482/1280x720/match/image.jpg)
Secretary of War Henry Stimson wrote, “The decision to use the atomic bomb…was our least abhorrent choice.†While it is certainly unfortunate this course of action was necessary, for the Allies, at that moment in time, there was no other choice. Together with Great Britain’s Churchill, and Russia’s Stalin, the President of the United States urged the Japanese to “… proclaim the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces…The alternative,†they said, “for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.†Ignoring the obvious military situation, the Japanese Prime Minister Baron Kantaro Suzuki issued the Japanese refusal to surrender which included these words: “… there is no other recourse but to ignore it (the surrender demand) entirely and resolutely fight for the successful conclusion of the war.†President Truman made one last demand, one final appeal. The summer of 1945 was indeed an anxious one as Allied and American forces gathered for the inevitable invasion of the Japanese homeland. This year, 2005, marks the sixtieth year since the end of World War II. On this occasion, the surviving members of the Enola Gay crew would like the opportunity to issue a joint statement. Tibbets, Theodore “Dutch†Van Kirk, & Morris R.