The issue ~ First atomic attack

Our opinion ~ Orangeburg man played special role in attacks on Japan

Sixty-two years ago, the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the end of World War II. Orangeburg has a special connection to both events in that August of 1945. In fact, most Americans have a connection to the late Julian L. Cumbee Sr. of Orangeburg, who died in 2000 at age 84.

Here’s the story.

Cumbee served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He was photographer for the 3rd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron.

As much as Cumbee insisted he only was doing his military duty on all missions, history will record that he was more than just another soldier taking photographs.

He was very reluctant to tell his story. As far as we know, only once did Cumbee publicly talk about his experience, that to the late Joyce W. Milkie of The Times and Democrat in 1982.

We’re thankful he agreed to let Orangeburg know.

Cumbee took hundreds upon hundreds of photos of aerial bombing missions, but photos from two missions are what will always be remembered. He was the man taking pictures from above as the Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. He was behind the camera again on Aug. 9 when a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

His is a fascinating story, beginning with being called in for one-on-one mission briefing sessions. The crew of the Double Exposure – the B-29 Super Fortress that followed directly behind the bombers – was told the upcoming mission was highly classified. The men were “checked back to our childhood,” Cumbee said in the 1982 interview.

“We were told, ’If you tell anyone, including the men in your outfit’ as to what we saw on that mission, well, they said Uncle Sam would get us, no matter how long it took.”

On Aug. 6, 1945, they were told the photographs would be of a “special bomb dropping.” They took off, headed for Hiroshima, without knowing what was to come.

They saw the plane head over the city. They saw the bomb drop. They saw the incredible result – bearing witness to the attack’s devastation in a way to which even those who dropped the bomb could not relate.

“If I was to say I wasn’t scared, I would be lying. We had no idea at all of what was going on. It was the unknown – but we were never too afraid to carry out the work we were there to do,” Cumbee said.

Their mission: Get pictures of the first atomic attack. They did.

With six cameras going at one time, the crew kept circling and taking photos. “We circled it about an hour or more. Just our plane. It was a lonely feeling.”

They went back a day later, also, working for 15-1/2 hours. “That was an awful sight. I had seen Hiroshima before and then to see what that bomb had done to it, well, the damage was awful. There was just an enormous big, black circle,” Cumbee said.

On Aug. 9, the bombing mission was repeated. “This time, we knew what to expect. We were just as scared. This time we were ordered to fly through the cloud, not just around it.”

They did it and obeyed the orders not to discuss the mission. Even all those years later, he remained reluctant.

We’ve written about Cumbee before, but believe his connection to history is most appropriately recognized again on this day. The people of Orangeburg need to know the story.

In Cumbee’s words: “Every time you see some of these pictures on television and in magazines of the strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you can think of me.”

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