Man finds records that indicate his dad played part in ending WWII – Kingsport Times News
ROGERSVILLE — While rummaging through file cabinets left to him by his father, Eric Spangler came across a photograph of a device that helped change the course of World War II.
Eric’s father, Harry L. Spangler, helped invent a mechanism that loaded the Big Boy, otherwise known as the Fat Man atomic bomb, aboard a B-29 bomber.
The name of this particular B-29 was the Bockscar. This aircraft would go down in history as the second to drop an atomic bomb in combat.
The Enola Gay was the first to drop an atomic bomb in warfare. This occurrence was a few days before that of the Bockscar.
Eric, 72, believes that the atomic bomb photographed is the Fat Man due to its massive size; however, the name of the bomb pictured is unknown. What is known is that it was one of the two dropped on Japan.
The Enola Gay released the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.
According to the National WWII Museum, the bombing resulted in more than 80,000 Japanese casualties.
The Bockscar released the Fat Man on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945. Based on statistics found on atomicheritage.org, the efficiency of the Fat Man was “10 times that of Little Boy.” According to Newsweek, around “40,000 people were killed instantly” as a result.
The use of the atomic bombs is still a topic of moral controversy.
“Without the atomic bomb, there is no telling how many millions of Americans would have died trying to defeat Japan,” Eric said. “And that bomb kind of ended the war quickly, you know?”
Eric decided that the story behind the photo was worth sharing because of the device’s significance in the war. Eric said that “the picture is of the mechanism where they were actually loading the Big Boy atomic weapon.”
In view of the fact that Harry aided in inventing the device, Eric “figured that it was surely worthy of mentioning what he had done to serve his country.”
Life on the Farm
Harry was raised on a farm in Peterstown, West Virginia. According to Eric, growing up on a farm “molds a person’s character real quickly” due to the “awful lot of hard work they do.”
Eric shared a story from his father’s childhood: “I remember him telling me that one year he worked all summer and actually his pay was a beehive. …” Eric continued that his father’s experience “instilled in him a lot of qualities that made him kind of special.”
In light of Harry’s work on the farm he was able to obtain a “kind of mental toughness,” Eric said. These characteristics would prove useful in his military career.
Military Life
When Harry was in his early 20s he enlisted in the military and became an officer in the Army Air Corps during WWII.
The Army Air Corps evolved into its own branch of the military on June 20, 1941. According to historyonthenet.com, the separation was to “signify greater autonomy from the Army’s command structure.”
The Department of the Air Force was established in 1947.
Harry transitioned to the Army Reserves, where he reached the rank of major.
While in the military, Harry was called “to help with the atom bomb project,” Eric said. He was stationed “overseas for several years” before.
A Life-altering Occurrence
“The thing that was kind of amazing about my dad was while he was in the Reserves, he had a weapon, a pistol, and actually was cleaning it, and actually there was a round that got chambered and somehow went off.”
As a result “the bullet went through his cheek, through his nose, and took his left eyeball out” Eric said. He references a photo in which his dad wears a glass eye.
Harry pursued a career at “a big investment company at that time” after retiring from the military.
“The thing that’s amazing is that even with all that stacked against him … he led the nation in sales every year.” Eric said. The investment company “had over 2,000 sales people.”
“I mean with all those things stacked against him, he never used that as a crutch to be an advantage.”
A Military Family
Eric’s father wasn’t the only man in his family in the military. Many of Eric’s family members, including himself, served the country.
“My whole family had been involved in the military.” Eric said. “My brother was an E7 in special forces. Of course my dad served in WWII. And all of my uncles were either in the Navy or Army in WWII, so my whole family had military heritage all up and down the line. I even think my great-great-granddaddy fought in the Civil War.”
Eric’s decision to serve was influenced by his family’s previous involvement, although Eric said that at the time service was pretty much mandatory.
Eric was “in active duty for a little better than seven years.” He served as a 2nd lieutenant in the Army after he graduated from ETSU in 1971. He later “resigned by commission.”
He flew helicopters in the Army Reserve upon his return. He retired in 1990.
Eric accumulated a “total of almost 20 years in service.”
Civilian Life
Harry attended high school in Peterstown, Virginia.
Following graduation he enrolled at a university, although which one is unclear. There he studied to be a teacher.
He taught at Richland High School as a science teacher. He did this for an estimated couple of years until he eventually enlisted in the military.
War Stories
Eric passed on a couple of war stories his dad shared with him: “He would talk about some of the war things going on when he was overseas and about big crashes. Some of the airplanes would come back being all shot up.”
Eric said his father talked about the P-38 Lightning, which was a “dominant aircraft.” According to Eric, “The enemy would hate to see that. As a matter of fact the Germans when they would see a P-38, they would go ‘Achtung Lightning!’ You know get out of here, or watch out that P-38 is going to shoot us all down.”
The airplanes weren’t the only topics of discussion. Eric said his father “would talk about training people on the 50-caliber machine gun for the bombers” too.
“He would tell all types of stories.” Eric said. His stories were “interesting because he was actually there.”
Words of Wisdom
Eric acquired the photo of his father’s mechanism years after his death in 2001.
“My dad was a typical American … of that generation. Very tough. Very dedicated,” Eric said. “I wish there was more of him.”
Harry told his son, “The saddest words of a heartened pen are those few words that could’ve been.” In simpler terms, “Don’t get so caught up on what could have been; just get caught up in doing.”
Eric is proud to honor the memory of his father and other veterans like him. As Eric said, WWII veterans are “very special people, and I wish there were more of them still.”