Magazine to honor Hiroshima bomber

Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1998 | 10:56 a.m.

The man credited with saving millions of lives during World War II by dropping a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, which killed between 70,000 and 100,000 people, will receive the first Humanitarian Award given by Solder of Fortune magazine at its 19th annual convention.

Retired Air Force Gen. Paul Tibbets will be the keynote speaker at the convention and consumer trade show, which kicks off today at the Sands Expo Center.

The convention will feature a series of seminars by weapons and military tactical experts in addition to the trade show.

The convention and consumer trade show will be open to the public Friday through Sunday. Admission is $8.

Tibbets, in addition to dropping the bomb on Hiroshima, also led the first daylight raid against Nazi-occupied Europe, the first 100-plane raid against Axis powers and flew in the North Africa campaign.

"General Tibbets was responsible for saving at least a million American lives, as well as the lives of several scores of millions of Japanese, and preventing the total destruction of their country," Soldier of Fortune publisher Robert K. Brown said.

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