Paul Tibbets.

2007/11/01: General Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, dies at 92

"There is no morality in war," The Virginian-Pilot quoted him as saying . "A way must be found to eliminate war as a means of settling quarrels between nations."At the same time, General Tibbets expressed no regrets over his role in the launching of atomic warfare. "I viewed my mission as one to save lives," he said. "I didn't bomb Pearl Harbor. I didn't start the war, but I was going to finish it."
Tibbets had requested that there be no funeral or headstone, fearing it would give his detractors a place to protest.

The comment about no funeral or headstone bothers me.

Mr. Tibbets was doing his job. An undesirable job, for sure. Many people think he was evil for helping kill 60,000 instantly and ruining the lives of 250,000 other people in that city and many people think he was a hero for saving so many lives by avoiding the upcoming invasion of Japan (which the US military was expecting to result in over a million American and Japanese being killed).
It's too bad that people couldn't disconnect the questions of morality of using such a weapon from the person who's job it was to deliver it. Soldiers are not allowed to think about what they are told to do, otherwise the group led by my nephew Blake would be storming the dictator's palace before it is time to do so, and the group led by me would be trying to organize a “big group hug” with the resulting injuries and mayhem that would probably follow. So I blame war on “upper management” and never blame the individual soldier, unless they did NOT follow orders, in which case I would nail 'em to the wall.
I am a pacifist, thankfully Mr. Tibbets was not. I thank him for doing his job for our country.
Beth always says thank you to every serviceman or veteran that she meets. They always seem to appreciate it.