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This is CBS Eye on the World with John Bachelor.

Here's John Bachelor

It is before dawn, August 9, 1945, on the island of Tinian and the Northern Marianas,

a vast B-29 base. One B-29 is taking off by itself. It's named Boxcar, B-O-C-A-R, Box-C-A-R.

It's flown by a man named Charles Sweeney and a crew. The crew includes someone whose job

it is to arm the plutonium atomic weapon in the bomb bay. The plutonium bomb is called

that man. I welcome Charles Pellegrino, the author of To Helen Back, which is an updating of the book Last

Train from Hiroshima, about the attack on Nagasaki. There are details here

that sometimes are necessary to understand the decision-making of using atomic weapons

in anger against civilian populations and the arbitrariness and the accident

of the two atomic weapons ever dropped in human history so far in anger.

Charlie, a very good evening to you congratulations again your book is endlessly rewarding boxcar takes off Charles Sweeney is flying.

Its mission is Japan, and its major city

to strike as Kakura.

It's flying a route that's not unlike the one flown by the Enola Gay several days before.

Charles Sweeney though is a compelling figure in your book.

You tell me that he had doubts.

Why? He had problems. Kukura he wanted to hit that target

because it was purely a military target. He was very bothered by all the civilian populations, all the schools that were all around all the factories in Naka sake, including including one of the largest Catholic communities in the whole eastern hemisphere.

And in fact, Sweeney was a Catholic in the 94 the bombing.

He went to pray with a priest.

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