[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 156 (Sunday, September 28, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2116]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO LIEUTENANT JACOB BESER

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                     HON. C.A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 26, 2008

  Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Madam Speaker, I rise before you today to honor 
the memory of Lieutenant Jacob Beser, the only United States Army Air 
Force Officer to serve on both the mission of the Enola Gay to 
Hiroshima and Bock's Car to Nagasaki.
  Jacob Beser was born on March 15, 1922 in Baltimore Maryland and 
graduated from Baltimore City College in 1938. He then studied 
mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University but left the day 
after Pearl Harbor to enlist in the Army Air Forces. Because of his 
educational background and training, Beser was sent to Los Alamos, New 
Mexico to work on the Manhattan Project in the area of weapons firing 
and fusing.
  Lieutenant Beser was the radar specialist aboard the Enola Gay on 
August 6, 1945, when it dropped the ``Little Boy'' atomic bomb on 
Hiroshima. ``Little Boy'', the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare, 
was to detonate over the city triggered by radar calculations that 
measured the bomb's distance from the ground as it fell. Lieutenant 
Beser's job was to monitor those calculations and also to ensure that 
no other radars interfered with the radar frequency, which could have 
caused a premature detonation.
  Three days later, Lieutenant Beser was aboard Bock's Car when ``Fat 
Man'' was dropped on Nagasaki. He was the only person to have crewed 
the attack aircraft of both missions.
  Madam Speaker, I ask that you join with me today to honor the memory 
of Lieutenant Jacob Beser. It is with great pride that I recognize a 
fellow Baltimore City College graduate on being the only United States 
Army Air Force Officer to serve on the crew for both the historic 
missions of the Enola Gay and Bock's Car.

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