He received a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science degree from Bucknell University and worked at DuPont in various positions for over 35 years.
Van Kirk left the service in 1946 as a Major. From November 1944 until June, 1945, they trained constantly for the upcoming mission. in June 1943, he taught as an instructor navigator until November 1944, when he was transferred to the 509th Composite Group at Wendover Field, Utah. From 1942 to 1943, Van Kirk was in Europe. Van Kirk commissioned into the Army Air Force on Apand was transferred to the 97th Bomb Group, where he flew with Paul Tibbets and Tom Ferebee, the other two men who would accompany him on the fateful Hiroshima mission. Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk, the navigator of the Enola Gay the day the B-29 dropped the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, passed away on Jat a retirement home in Stone Mountain, Georgia at the age of 93. Among the scrub, mountains and salt, seventy years ago, men started training for what is still to this day the most awe-inspiring and utterly horrific act that has ever befallen the Earth. As the automotive world gears up for the racing out at the salt flats near Wendover, Utah, a reflection needs to be made.