Morris R. Jeppson | Enola Gay crewman, 87

Morris R. Jeppson, an Army Air Forces electronics specialist who helped arm the atomic bomb aboard the Enola Gay as it flew to Hiroshima, died March 30 at a hospital in Las Vegas.

Mr. Jeppson, who was 87 and lived in Las Vegas, was the next-to-last survivor of the 12 men who carried out history's first atomic strike.

His death, announced by his wife, Molly, leaves Theodore Van Kirk, 89, the Enola Gay's navigator, as that flight crew's last survivor.

Morris Richard Jeppson was born June 23, 1922, in Logan, Utah. After enlisting in the Army Air Forces in 1943 he was among airmen sent to leading universities for training in electronics.

- N.Y. Times News Service