The first was William Parsons, a military engineer who died in 1953, followed by Robert Shumard, another engineer, 14 years later. Over the last 65 years they have fallen one by one. His uncharacteristic inactivity is explained by the fact that none of the 11 crew members who joined him on that fateful flight will be in Tinian this year, and without them he didn't have the stomach to go. But this year, Van Kirk declined the invitation. This year, he tells me, he has been invited to travel, all expenses paid, to Tinian, the tiny Pacific island where, 65 years ago on that same day, he set out with 11 other men on an aeroplane journey that would change the world. The absence of any plans is unusual, because Van Kirk is usually heavily in demand on 6 August.
