He said Van Kirk was an excellent speaker who could carry a crowd and handle criticism gracefully. Military historian Leon DeLisle, of Ross, first met Van Kirk in Novato in the 1980s. Family members said he died from age-related causes. 6, 1945 that killed 80,000 people and hurried the war’s end eight days later. Van Kirk was the last surviving member of the Enola Gay’s 12-member crew, which was responsible for dropping the atomic bomb on Aug. Longtime Novato resident Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk, a navigator who guided the Enola Gay bomber over Hiroshima during World War II to drop the first nuclear bomb in the history of warfare, died Monday at an assisted living center in Stone Mountain, Ga.
