KULPMONT -- Thursday marks the 70th anniversary of one of the most significant events in U.S. history. On August 6th 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
"The war changed me," said Mickey Yonkovig.
The Shamokin native was just 19 years old when he served in the Air Force and flew on a B-24 bomber over Japan. As a radio operator, Yonkovig and his crew flew over Japanese airfields dropping smaller bombs so that the plane carrying the atomic bomb had a clear path.
"Supporting and helping to stop any small fighter planes from coming up," said Yonkovig, who saw Hiroshima before and after the atomic bomb.
"I saw dirt, buildings and people - 170,000 people in dust in one day," added Yonkovig.
Yonkovig's story is not the only one in Northumberland County so closely tied to the bombings at Hiroshima. Theordore "Dutch" Van Kirk was the navigator on the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb.
Just last year, Dutch Van Kirk passed away and his funeral included a B-17 flyover in Northumberland.
The mayor, Len Zboray, who also is a board member at the cemetery, says he sees people coming to visit Van Kirk almost every day.
"He could've been buried anywhere else, but he chose Riverview Cemetery because he loved his roots here in Northumberland," he said.
