Publisher Drops 'Fake' Hiroshima History

Veterans irked as James Cameron stands by author
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 4, 2010 2:09 AM CST
Updated Mar 4, 2010 2:27 AM CST
Publisher Drops 'Fake' Hiroshima History
The ground crew of the Enola Gay B29 bomber which struck Hiroshima in 1945 with the "Little Boy" atomic bomb stands with pilot Col. Paul W. Tibbets, center, in the Marianas Islands.   (AP Photo/U.S. Army Air Force)

The publisher of Last Train to Hiroshima has stopped shipping the book after it emerged that at least one of the author's sources had invented his story. Joseph Fuoco, who died in 2008, claimed to have been a last-minute replacement on board the Enola Gay on its bombing mission but records and surviving crew members proved his story to be false, the Telegraph reports.

Author Charles Pellegrino promised to correct the book but doubts later emerged over two other figures in the book. Director James Cameron, who bought the film rights to the book, is standing by the author despite protests from an association of veterans involved in the 1945 bombing, AP reports. Cameron did not likely "understand the extent of the misrepresentations in Pellegrino's book," said a statement issued yesterday by the 509th Composite Group, which warned that fictional aspects of the book may "cause great damage to true history." (More Charles Pellegrino stories.)

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