American History Teachers’ Collaborative

Summer Institute Reflective Paper 2007

Brian W. Cordes

The document that I have chosen to examine is an article I believe to be from a local newspaper reporting at Chanute Air Force Base. The article has the date of August 6^th 1951 stamped on it. The article speaks about the mood on the base on the 6^th anniversary of the first atomic bomb being dropped. The article states that Robert R. Schumard was stationed on the base at the time the article was written. The author of the article tells that Schumard was a member of the flight crew of the Enola Gay that dropped the bomb, and goes on to briefly retell the details of the mission, along with Schumard’s experience of the nuclear explosion. Although this brief article does give some good information regarding the experiences of Schumard during the mission, and tells that he was studying the flight engineers course at the base at the time of the article, I would like to know where he might have transferred to after completing his course at the base. I would also be interested in knowing the path of his military career to the point of his retirement from the service.

Although there was not an extensive amount of information presented solely on the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan by the United States, relative to some of the other aspects of WWII at the conference, there was certainly enough information to allow this document to have more of an impact on my understanding of the war. Dr. Williamson Murray’s presentation on the first day was certainly informative in regard to the new information about the plans for a mainland invasion of Japan, which have apparently come to light as of late. Schumard is quoted in the article as saying, “first the town was there, and then it wasn’t.” I found Dr. Murray’s assertion that the dropping of the bomb was very necessary to be much more interesting given the new facts he put forth. He stated that Japanese scholars reviewing the recently released documents concerning Japan’s plans to repel an overland invasion are in agreement with his belief that the bombs were necessary to save human life. Although I am sure the debate about the ethics of dropping the bomb will continue for some time, it is interesting to see that there is a growing consensus that such a powerful weapon as Schumard describes, one that can make a town disappear, was perhaps necessary to ensure further loss of life.

I will certainly use this document in the future should I teach another unit on World War II. I generally try to make as many local connections as possible when teaching history. I find that the students can empathize much more when the historical figures are from their area, than when they are from a remote place with which they have no connection. Moreover, the fact that this article has a primary account of the first atomic bomb ever dropped is also of great importance in my mind. I would most likely use this article in my classroom to make a KWL regarding the dropping of the bomb. I think it would be very easy to access the level of historical thinking when the students are given the task of deciding what they would like to know after having read the article. I would probably use this article as a lead off to my atomic bomb unit with the KWL to guide us.