Theodore Van Kirk

Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk (b. 1921) was an American Army Air Corps pilot who flew 58 combat missions with the 97th Bomb Group over Occupied France and Germany during World War Two.

He was later selected to fly General Mark Clark on a secret mission to negotiate with the Free French in Algeria, and was also navigator on the aircraft that flew General Dwight Eisenhower to the invasion site in North Africa to launch Operation Torch. He was the navigator of the Enola Gay when it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

External links

Listening

• Interview with Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk from National Public Radio "All Things Considered" program, August 4, 2005