U.S. Army Air Corps vet Annibale Muscolo took this photo of the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945. The photo was taken on the island of Tinian, where the bomber was based. / photo courtesy of Annibale Muscolo
ANNIBALE MUSCOLO
Age: 88
Born: Sept. 29, 1921
Hometown: Alhambra, Calif.
Residence: Palm Desert
Military branch: U.S. Army Air Corps; 509th Composite Group
Years served: 1943-1945
Rank: Corporal
Family: Two children, Joseph Muscolo of Palm Desert and Lisa Muscolo of Santa Monica; three grandchildren.
Coming tomorrow
U.S Army Airborne veteran Robert Bosacki of Palm Desert.
LEARN MORE: Read about other Coachella Valley residents who served in World War II at www.mydesert.com/WWII
About this series
Staff writer Denise Goolsby will profile desert veterans from World War II through the end of 2010 — the 65th anniversary of the end of the war. Contact her at (760) 778-4587 or via e-mail at denise.goolsby@thedesertsun.com
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U.S. Army Air Corps Cpl. Annibale “Nibs” Muscolo spent six months on the island of Tinian to prepare for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As a member of the 509th Composite Group — created to plan and execute deployment of the first atomic bomb — Muscolo's commanding officer was Col. Paul Tibbets.
Tibbets was the pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.
Muscolo, an ordnance and ammunition man, watched as the parts of the bomb were unloaded from the USS Indianapolis — a cruiser that was sunk by a Japanese submarine shortly after delivering its sensitive load to Tinian.
“The uranium was inside an 18-inch steel sheet,” Muscolo recalled. “We referred to it as ‘unit number one.'”
Muscolo became familiar with “Little Boy,” handling the non-explosive components of the torpedo-shaped bomb on a regular basis.
“I worked with it every day,” he said. “I drilled holes and threaded them for switches, 32 switches. In case one didn't go off, it switched to the next one.”
He also spent a good deal of time assembling and disassembling the bomb.
“Take it apart, put it together, take it apart, put it together to make sure everything was working properly,” he said.
Muscolo also helped with some minor modifications of the Enola Gay's bomb doors.
“I took a grinder and smoothed the edges,” he said.
On Aug. 6, 1945, he helped ready the bomb for the fateful attack on Hiroshima.
“That morning, we put it in the plane and he took off,” Muscolo said. “There were a lot of scientists there — the technical guys that really did the work.”
Muscolo also worked with the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, the egg-shaped atomic bomb named “Fat Man.”
Before joining the Air Corps, Muscolo worked for his father doing government jobs that qualified him for deferment from the draft.
One of those jobs was building concrete igloos in New Mexico's desert to store ammunition to be used in the war.
When the military stopped granting Muscolo deferments, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and was assigned to the 509th Composite Group.
After training at Sheppard Field, Texas, the men were sent to Wendover, Utah, while the atomic bomb was being tested in Nevada and New Mexico.
Although it was top secret, “we were aware,” Muscolo said.
Muscolo said the Seabees — the construction arm of the U.S. Navy — went to Tinian ahead of the 509th Composite Group to build runways for the aircraft.
When the job was completed, the 509th was flown to Tinian, a 39-square-mile island in the Northern Marianas.
But it wasn't all work and no play for the young corporal.
“I made a paddle board to use at the enlisted men's beach on our off-hours, and I also used it to take me around a cove to the officer's beach where I could enjoy the company of nurses,” Muscolo said with a sparkle in his eye.
Once, he picked up a nurse — a second lieutenant — and took her for a ride on his handcrafted board.
“I got her on the paddle board and I got on the back and I paddled around,” he said, smiling.
Muscolo, who wasn't shy about meeting new people, made some fortuitous contacts within the Navy ranks.
“There was a fella in our outfit that was from Long Beach and he had a buddy on a tug in the harbor,” Muscolo said.
The Navy had better desserts than the Air Corps. He and his fellow airmen scored the ingredients to make sweet treats.
“We got acquainted with the (Navy) guys and we'd make our own ice cream,” Muscolo said.
