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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Warren L. Coble

Radio Operator on Necessary EvilHiroshima Mission

Nagasaki MissionTinian IslandWendover, UT
509th Composite GroupHiroshima MissionManhattan Project VeteranMilitary VeteranNagasaki Mission
The Necessary Evil

Warren L. Coble served as a sergeant in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron. Coble was regularly assigned as a radio operator in the Up An’ Atom, but did not fly in that plane during the August 1945 bombing missions on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On the Hiroshima mission, Coble flew in the Necessary Evil. On the Nagasaki mission, he flew in the Enola Gay.

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Robert J. Valley

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Robert J. Valley served as a technical sergeant in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron. He was the tail gunner of the B-29 Full House, which served as a weather reconnaissance plane on the Hiroshima bombing mission, and the backup strike plane on Iwo Jima on the Nagasaki mission.

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Martin G. Murray served as a corporal in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron. He was regularly assigned to the Necessary Evil as a tail gunner, but flew in the Big Stink in the Nagasaki Mission.

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