"I didn't even find out that he was on that mission until I was 10 years old and read some old news clippings in my grandmother's attic," Tom VanKirk told the AP in a phone interview Tuesday. Like many World War II veterans, VanKirk didn't talk much about his service until much later in his life when he spoke to school groups, his son said. He later moved from California to the Atlanta area to be near his daughter. Then he went to school, earned degrees in chemical engineering and signed on with DuPont, where he stayed until he retired in 1985. VanKirk stayed on with the military for a year after the war ended. Most of the lives saved were Japanese," VanKirk said. "I honestly believe the use of the atomic bomb saved lives in the long run. VanKirk said he thought it was necessary because it shortened the war and eliminated the need for an Allied land invasion that could have cost more lives on both sides. Whether the United States should have used the atomic bomb has been debated endlessly. Six days after the Nagasaki bombing, Japan surrendered. The blast and its aftermath claimed 80,000 lives. Three days after Hiroshima, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The blast and its aftereffects killed 140,000 in Hiroshima. It seemed a lot longer than 43 seconds," VanKirk recalled. "I think everybody in the plane concluded it was a dud. They counted - one thousand one, one thousand two - reaching the 43 seconds they'd been told it would take for detonation and heard nothing. They didn't know whether the bomb would actually work and, if it did, whether its shockwaves would rip their plane to shreds. As the 9,000-pound bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" fell toward the sleeping city, he and his crewmates hoped to escape with their lives. He guided the bomber through the night sky, just 15 seconds behind schedule, he said. The mission went perfectly, VanKirk said in a 2005 interview. He was teamed with pilot Paul Tibbets and bombardier Tom Ferebee in Tibbets' fledgling 509th Composite Bomb Group for Special Mission No. He was 24 years old when he served as navigator on the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the first atomic bomb deployed in wartime over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. VanKirk flew nearly 60 bombing missions, but it was a single mission in the Pacific that secured him a place in history. Theodore VanKirk, also known as "Dutch," died Monday of natural causes at the retirement home where he lived in Stone Mountain, Ga., his son Tom VanKirk said. (AP Photo) HOPD Show More Show LessĪTLANTA - The last surviving member of the crew that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, hastening the end of World War II and forcing the world into the atomic age, has died in Georgia. Tom VanKirk says his 93-year-old father, the last surviving member of the Enola Gay crew, died at the retirement home where he lived in Georgia on Monday, July 28, 2014. At foreground left, seated at the corner of the table, is Capt. Army, the crew of the Enola Gay is debriefed in Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands after returning from their atomic bombing mission over Hiroshima, Japan. 6, 1945 file photo made available by the U.S. (AP Photo) HOPD Show More Show Less 5 of5 FILE - In this Aug. Tom Van Kirk says his 93-year-old father, the last surviving member of a crew that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died in Stone Mountain, Ga. Army, the crew of the Enola Gay is debriefed in Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands after returning from their mission over Hiroshima, Japan. (AP Photo/Max Desfor) Max Desfor/STF Show More Show Less 4 of5 FILE - In this Aug. Tom VanKirk says his 93-year-old father, the last surviving member of the Enola Gay crew, died in Stone Mountain, Ga. atomic bombing mission against the Japanese city of Hiroshima. 6, 1945 file photo, the "Enola Gay" Boeing B-29 Superfortress lands at Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands after the U.S. Max Desfor/STF Show More Show Less 3 of5 FILE - In this Aug. (AP Photo/The Macon Telegraph, Beau Cabell, File) Beau Cabell/MBO Show More Show Less 2 of5 Theodore VanKirk guided the "Enola Gay" Boeing B-29 Superfortress to Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands, after the U.S. He was the last surviving member of a crew that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Tom Van Kirk says his 93-year-old father died in Stone Mountain, Ga. The navigator for the Enola Gay spoke about his experience guiding the aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb. 1 of5 FILE - In this file photo, Theodore "Dutch'' Van Kirk visits a veteran's group at the Golden Corral in Macon, Ga.