Paying the price for success

On behalf of my father, Fred Gaede, and myself I wanted to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks for the hospitality of everyone involved in “The Peaceful Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Atomic Missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” held Aug. 2-10. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event that we were very happy we attended. My father was stationed on Tinian and was a flight engineer on a Boeing B-29 bomber called Flagship. His crew named their plane Flagship for two reasons. One, they could not think of anything clever like all the other crews, and they were the lead plane in the 504th Bomb Group. Part of their plane’s serial number was 504, which they felt was a good luck omen. It must have been as they flew 35 combat missions over Japan with no injuries to anyone on board. However, they did had many holes from fighter planes and flak.

I also want to take this opportunity to mention that, without Mr. Phillip Mendiola-Long organizing this important historical event, it would not have happened. Can you imagine that? The most historical event in the history of the world, held to honor those who fought and made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and no event to commemorate it? The U.S. mainstream media virtually ignored this event. However, in June 2005 they wrote hundreds of stories about D-Day in Europe as an example of their prejudice. I personally sent out a press release http://www.majon.com/advanced/pressreleases/tinian_island.htm that went out to approximately 10,000 in the U.S. mainstream media outlets. The result was that six to eight reporters in the mainstream media contacted Mr. Phillip Mendiola Long. Pathetic! The only press that attended from the mainstream media was the gentleman from The Washington Post.

I understand that some of the local politicians who did not want this event to happen but were happy to show up for the photo opportunities are now questioning Mr. Long’s spending the money to organize this event. Shame on them! Someone once said that “Success has many father’s, but few are willing to pay the personal price for success.” Mr. Long has paid the price for the success of this event and should be saluted and congratulated. I for one, applaud Mr. Long’s efforts. Great job Phil!

Tom Gaede
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