IL HR0651

Recognizes Brigadier General Paul W. Tibbets Jr. for 29 years of service in the United States Air Force

Born in Quincy, Illinois in 1915 and graduated from Western Military Academy in Alton in 1933

Commanded the 340th Bomb Squadron in 1942, flying 25 combat missions in B-17s including the first American Flying Fortress raid against occupied Europe

Assigned in 1944 to lead the atomic bomb project deployment organization and piloted the mission that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima in 1945

Retired in 1966 after completing Air Command and Staff School (1947) and Air War College (1955)