Early Life
Tibbets was born in Quincy, Illinois, the son of Paul Warfield Tibbets, Sr. and Enola Gay Tibbets. He was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where his father was a confections wholesaler. The family was listed there in the 1920 U.S. Federal Population Census. The 1930 census indicates that his family had relocated and was living at the time in Des Moines. Thereafter, the family moved to Miami, Florida. Tibbets graduated from Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois and later attended the University of Florida in Gainesville and was an initiated member of the Epsilon Zeta Chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity in 1934. After his undergraduate work, Tibbets had planned on becoming an abdominal surgeon. He attended the University of Cincinnati for a year and a half, before changing his mind, and enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps.
Read more about this topic: Paul Tibbets
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