That was the attitude of the United States in those years.” “I have been convinced that we saved more lives than we took,” he said, referring to both American and Japanese casualties from an invasion of Japan. “I wanted to do everything that I could to subdue Japan. “I was anxious to do it,” he told an interviewer for a documentary, “The Men Who Brought the Dawn,” marking the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. General Tibbets became a symbolic figure in the controversy, but he never wavered in defense of his mission. But questions were eventually raised concerning the morality of atomic warfare and the need for the Truman administration to drop the bomb in order to secure Japan’s surrender. The crews who flew the atomic strikes were seen by Americans as saviors who had averted the huge casualties that were expected to result from an invasion of Japan. 15, Japan surrendered, bringing World War II to an end. United States Air Force, via Agence France-Presse - Getty Images with his plane, the Enola Gay, in an undated photograph.