Duty: A Father, His Son, and the Man Who Won the War

by Bob Greene

Book Overview

When Bob Greene went home to central Ohio to be with his dying father, it set off a chain of events that led him to knowing his dad in a way he never had before--thanks to a quiet man who lived just a few miles away, a man who had changed the history of the world.

Greene's father--a soldier with an infantry division in World War II--often spoke of seeing the man around town. All but anonymous even in his own city, carefully maintaining his...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380978490
• ISBN13: 9780380978496
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Duty - a true insight into that generation

Bob Greene not only allows you into the life of Paul Tibbets, but his own father and himself. As he visits Mr. Tibbets on various occasions, you hear the conversation but also glean into the man himself, with or without the war. His accountability, adherence to punctuality and determination to uphold his personal principles. You get a better insight into what that generation was all about and the sadness that we are about to lose each and every member of that period of history.

For Fathers and Sons -- Bridging Gaps

With Father's Day just around the corner I wanted to share a review of "DUTY," one of the best books I've ever read. (I've read nearly all the books in Sallyann's B-29 Reading Room and (hope she can add this excellent title, soon!)My 22-year old son gave me this book last week for my birthday and I've already sent it onto my Father who served as a Superfort CFC gunner with the 73rd Bomb Wing's 499th.Greene's book crosses generations and gender gaps -- it is a unique and special historical, yet very personal, look into the lives of the generation we own so much to. The author explores his relationship with his dying father (a WWII Army infantry veteran who fought in Italy). A native of Columbus, Ohio, Bob tries for over twenty years to interview retired General Paul Tibbets, Commander of the Enola Gay. On the morning after the last meal he ever shared with his father, Tibbets agrees to meet with Greene. What unfolds is a simply fascinating and genuine friendship that allowed author Greene to discover things about his father, and his father's generation of WWII soldiers, that he never fully understood before.I especially enjoyed the chapter where Greene is invited by Tibbets to spend a few days at a Branson, Missouri, reunion of (then) surviving Enola Gay crew members: (the late) Tom Ferebee, Dutch Van Kirk, and Paul Tibbets. Greene is an extraordinary journalist, he brings you into the group and shares it all with a special sensitivity, understand and love. Please...... beg borrow or otherwise obtain a copy of this book, today -- it's a must read, regardless of your generation, gender, or previously formed opinions on the "single most violent act in the history of mankind." Lee K. Shuster,Vietnam-era USAF Vet and Son of a (CFC) Gunner

An honorable tribute to the Veterans of WWII

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a book to be read by everyone whose Parents or Grandparents were of the World War II Generation. This is an honest, insightful, and honorable tribute to the hero Paul Tibbets of the Enola Gay, and to Major Time Greene of the 91st Infantry Division, one of the many unsung heroes that put it all on the line to save the free world. One comes away with a knowledge of how our greatest generation viewed the world and their moral character. One also gets a wake up call as to their opinion of the current generation.If you have recently laid to rest a Parent of Grandparent from the WWII era, as I have, this book will help you cherish their memory even more.

"Who knew about who doesn't matter." General Tibbets

That one comment has been a common thread through all of the books I have read regarding the men and women involved in World War II. The General was chastising the Author for suggesting that his Father was less important as a Major in the war than General Tibbets. This was not the first lesson that would be taught, and I thought it was great the Author included so many instances when the General took him to task. It was always instructive and formed a series of reference points for the Author that taught him more than he ever expected to learn about his own Father.The Enola Gay, her crew, and the bomb she dropped remain for some/many an issue left unresolved. Fifty years allows for a great deal of second-guessing and revisionist history. If after reading this book the decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima is still questionable to you, read "Flags Of Our Fathers". If after you absorb the lives that Iwo Jima, a tiny island consumed I do not believe there is a credible argument that the dropping of the first Atom Bomb was anything other than correct. Not conditionally correct, but absolutely correct for the United States and Japan.There is a conversation in the book between General Tibbets and Shoji Tabuchi. Mr. Tabuchi was carried by his Mother on her back, while she pushed his Brother in a carriage away from their home that was near Hiroshima after the bombing. Mr. Tabuchi's Father said this about the Bombing, "had the war continued all would have died, the end of the war spared the lives of men women and children all over Japan".Why is it The Smithsonian Air And Space Museum had so much trouble a few years ago when presenting what had happened during World War II. I went back and checked some of the comments they proposed to display with the plane. I came to the conclusion those involved were either pathetically ignorant, historical revisionists, or simply dullards. General Tibbets responded to the Author as follows when asked about those who make disparaging comments about him, his crew, or the mission, "Those people never had their balls on that cold, hard anvil," he said. "They can say anything they want." I think that makes the point clear enough even for a museum director.You will meet 2 men who were part of the crew on The Enola Gay, Major Dutch Van Kirk who was the Navigator and, Colonel Tom Ferebee the Bombardier. You will read of the General's meeting with Mitsuo Fuchida the man who led the air attack on Pearl Harbor. He was a guest at the General's home."Talk about it? That would be like talking about the air we breathed." This was the General's response when asked why he and his generation did not talk about patriotism and their affection for their Country. He continued, "We grew up knowing that it was expected of us-to love this Country and to treat it with loyalty and respect."The General did a great service for the Author Mr. Bob Greene. The Author in turn shares his experience, which we all c

A Requiem for a Generation!

Duty, A Father, His Son and the Man Who Won the War,by Bob Greene, syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune, is a requiem for the generation that fought World War II. I recommend it to all who served or who still honor the sacrifices made in the name of Honor,Duty & Country. It is a emotionally gripping story that will hold your attention from beginning to end. Greene is at the height of his story telling ability with this one.

Bob Greene gets it right in "Duty"

Bob Greene's moving book is rewarding at two levels. Hereveals new first-person details of Col. Paul Tibbets and hisHiroshima atomic-bombing mission that convinced the Japanese to finally end the terrible war. He draws out the thoughts and actions of young Tibbets and his men as they planned and carried out their gigantic responsibility. More profoundly, through conversations with Tibbets today and revealing introspection about his own father's Army service in Italy, Greene uncovers the intricate cultural connections binding the wartime generation and today's America. Asking few questions, making no demands they did their duty, putting their lives on hold and on the line to win the war and secure the peaceful, prosperous post-war nation. Today's generation hardly recognizes these warriors but owes everything to them.