Good book on veterans and knowing the man who flew the first atomic bomb mission after the war. ( )

Greene is a columnist at the Chicago Tribune as well as a broadcast journalist. This book is about his father who is dying, a man he has never been close to. Greene does remember that his father came home once and told him that he had seen the man who had won the Second World War in the grocery store. That man was Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Greene meets Tibbets and they become friends. As Greene tells us about his meetings with Tibbets, he also includes excerpts from his father's recorded memoir of his service in Italy during WW II. Thus we read about the contributions and views of two American soldiers from the last 'good war".

Tibbets is an interesting man with strong views on where America is today. Greene asks him about the morality of dropping the bomb and Tibbets as well as the other two surviving members of the Enola Gay's crew explain they were just doing their job and because they were successful, the war ended much sooner than it otherwise would have saving many thousands of American and Japanese lives.

Greene uses an anecdotal style which makes the book entertaining but does result in some repetition at times. Still it is a very entertaining and informative read. ( )

This is a great multi part story told masterfully by Bob Greene. It is the story of both his father's service in WWII and interviews with Paul Tibbets the pilot/commander of the Enola Gay that dropped the A-Bomb on Hiroshima. It is more than just war stories however. It is also about fathers, sons and changing times and generations. ( )

Duty: A Father, His Son and the Man Who Won the War follows columnist Bob Greene as he visits his father in the last months of his life, at the same time starting a friendship with Paul Tibbets, the pilot that flew the Enola Gay to Hiroshima. Greene reflects on the similarities between the two men from the World War II era and how they differ from the younger generations.

The problems that exist with this book are certainly not with the story. It is one that is not told nearly enough. The basics of the first atomic bomb drop are widely known, but the operations leading up to it and the lives of the men who carried it out are in danger of being forgotten. The story of Greene's own father, who served in North Africa and Italy, is also compelling, although more common. The book is at its best when these men are allowed to tell their story in their own words, which are simple and pithy at once.

The problems lie in Greene's narration. It too often takes on a tone of self-conscious humility which does not ring true. This alternates with a jarring disconnect between the character descriptions and the stories used to illustrate them. More than once Greene is supposedly demonstrating some endearing part of the men's nature, such as their sense of humor, with a story that comes off as being simply mean. It's unclear whether Greene is being overly-reverent and therefore failing to see this behavior as malicious or if he is simply failing to accurately portray his subjects. Finally, the book is at times painfully redundant. In the final chapters it seems every question he asks Tibbets is at most a subtle variation of one covered at least once elsewhere in the book. Surprising character revelations cease about two-thirds of the way through.

Duty is a worthy read for anyone who feels a gap in knowledge of World War II history, particularly about the combat end of the atomic bomb project, but I found it lacking in the emotional payoff that would seem inevitable.

I had more time than I'd like to read this past weekend & read this book. The first 1/3 didn't really pull me in, but after that it did. The book is a first hand look by Greene at his father's death, with whom he'd never communicated well. His father defined much of his life by his experience in WWII. While unimpressed by most people, Greene's father held the heroes of WWII in very high esteem, especially Paul Tibbets, the man who assembled & led the team that delivered the atomic bombs to Japan. He also was the pilot for the first bomb, the one dropped on Hiroshima. Young Greene meets Tibbets & in learning his story, learns more about his father than he'd ever known before.The story is several entwined & well done. We learn about both Greenes, their relationships & history. We also learn about the men that fought in WWII, especially Tibbets, a very tough man who held one of the toughest jobs in history. How he met the challenge & why he was able to are very interesting. ( )