forces outside Prague and later committed suicide. Von Greim received the telegram at 10:40 pm on May 8. It said all hostilities would cease at 1:00 am on May 9.
The surrender order, valued at $20,000 to $30,000, was sent by Karl Doenitz, the last leader of the Third Reich to the head of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Robert von Greim on the evening of May 8, 1945.
Japan eventually surrendered on August 15, 1945, after the Americans dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki.īut two top lots at the auction failed to sell: a 1945 German surrender order and two of Lewis's log books, which were valued at $150,000–200,000.Ī spokeswoman for Bonhams said that many buyers around the world had expressed interest and that it was "quite common" for post-sale offers to emerge later. When Lewis saw the huge mushroom cloud, he uttered the famous remark "My God, what have we done?" The atomic bombing of the Japanese city killed 140,000 people by December 1945. The single sheet of graph paper shows a pencil and ink drawing of the Enola Gay approaching Hiroshima and on dropping the bomb, turning 150 degrees to the right to avoid the shock waves of the explosion. The same World War II memorabilia auction also sold Lewis's hand-drawn plan for dropping the bomb for $37,500, Bonhams said. The original was sold at auction for $391,000 in 2002 by Christie's. "I honestly have the feeling of groping for words to explain this. Air Force B29 bomber, the Enola Gay, took off with a 9,700 top-secret bomb named Little Boy. "I am certain the entire crew felt this experience was more than anyone human had ever thought possible," Lewis wrote in the log. Early in the morning of August 6, 1945, a U.S. Lewis wrote the original log on Augas he flew to and from Hiroshima, disguised as a letter to "Mom and Dad" because as there was to be no official account of the top-secret mission, Bonhams said. Robert Lewis, American co-pilot of the B-29 bomber, made the copy in 1945 at the request of the then-science editor at The New York Times, and it includes a pencil sketch of the mushroom cloud, Bonhams auction house said. A extraordinary miscasting was Patrick Duffy, Dallas's Bobby Ewing, as the Enola Gay's pilot - bland and soft showing no evidence of stress or emotion that even the grittiest (and gritty the pilot must have been) would have shown. 'The city was 50 per cent covered with smoke and a large column of white cloud which in less than three minutes reached 30,000 feet and then went at least 50,000 feet.Ĭaptain Lewis said it made 'the greatest explosion man has ever witnessed' A replica of the atomic bomb nicknamed Little Boy.By Naharnet Newsdesk 30 April 2015, 09:33Ī copy of a deeply moving pilot's log, written during the top-secret Enola Gay mission that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan, was auctioned in New York on Wednesday for $50,000. 'Just how many Japs did we kill?.groping for words to explain this or I might say my God, what have we done? 'I am certain the entire crew felt this experience was more than any one human had ever thought possible. 6, 1945, bombing mission that changed the world. 'If I live a hundred years, I'll never quite get these few minutes out of my mind. Lewis, a 27-year-old pilot from Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, logged a total of 36 flights aboard the Enola Gay, including the Aug. The general was the pilot of 'the Enola Gay,' the B-29 Superfortress which dropped the first atomic bomb, 'Little Boy' on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, which many historian consider the end of World War II. It was the actual sight that we saw that caused the crew to feel they were part of Buck Rodgers 25th century warriors.' 'Everyone on the ship is actually dumbstruck even though we had expected something fierce. The pilot of enola gay General Tibbets, a native of Quincy, Ill., entered the Army Air Corps on Feb. The bombing raid was followed up three days later with second on the industrial city of Nagasaki, inflicting similar devastating damage. Japan surrendered six days after the Nagasaki bombing.Ĭapt Lewis died of a heart attack at his home in Virginia in 1983 aged 65. The log is being sold on Friday in New York.Ĭruz Beckham cosies up to new girlfriend Tana Holding during meal out with pals.