Taps

Food for thought for those who think American military might is nearly expended.

CHICAGO — Fred Olivi, a Chicago native who co-piloted the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki that helped bring World War II to an end, has died. He was 82.

Olivi, who joined the Army Air Forces after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, died Thursday at a rehabilitation center in the southwest suburb of Lemont. He had lived there since he suffered a stroke last August.

Olivi’s most famous mission was in a B-29, called Bocks Car, that dropped the second atomic bomb on Aug. 9, 1945, three days after the Enola Gay dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima. Japan surrendered six days after the Nagasaki bombing.

“While thousands died, I feel sure the bomb had to be dropped because if the Americans had been forced to invade Japan, it would have been a bloodbath,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times in a 1995 interview. “We would have lost a million people — both Allied forces and Japanese.”

On the day of Olivi’s mission, the crew had to overcome a number of problems, including electrical shorts, a fuel pump failure that cost the plane 600 gallons of fuel and cloud cover over the primary target, Kokura.

“We calculated our supplies and discovered we had enough for one bomb run on Nagasaki and an emergency landing on Okinawa,” said Olivi, who was a second lieutenant in 1945.

Nagasaki was also covered by clouds, until an opening suddenly appeared.

“The doors popped open, and the bomb dropped out,” he said. “We made a 60-degree bank to the left to get away and headed in the opposite direction . . . About 45 seconds later there was a flash, and it was 10 times brighter out.”

About 70,000 people died in the explosion. The plane shuddered with shock waves from the blast.

When the crew looked back at Nagasaki, “the entire city was covered with smoke and fire. Flames were shooting up in every direction,” Olivi said. He said that he thought the atomic mushroom cloud that was rising might engulf the plane before the pilot, Maj. Charles Sweeney, quickly flew out of the area.

Born in Chicago, Olivi attended Pullman Tech High School and then went to work at the Pullman railcar works. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he immediately enlisted with the Army Air Forces.

“He always wanted to fly,” said his older brother, Emil Olivi. “The Air Corps gave him a chance, and he took it.”

After the war, Olivi served in the Air Force Reserve until 1971. He flew with a troop transport squadron based at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport until 1971, ending his service as a lieutenant colonel. He also worked full-time as a manager of bridge operations and maintenance for the City of Chicago, until he retired in 1988.

In the mid-1960s, he married Carole McVey, whom he had known since they both attended the same high school. She died in 1998.

Until his stroke, he traveled around the country touring air shows, giving speeches, visiting museums and selling his self-published book, “Decision at Nagasaki.”

He was one of many veterans who expressed anger about the exhibit the Smithsonian Institution mounted for the 50th anniversary of the bombings, saying it was too apologetic.

“It’s slanted more in sympathy to the Japanese than it is to us,” he said in a 1994 interview. “They say nothing about the Bataan Death March, China and Singapore.”

In addition to his brother, survivors include six nieces and nephews.

Could America drop a nuclear weapon, if it would actually save lives, today?