Charles Pellegrino is the author of The Last Train From Hiroshima, published in January by Henry Holt. It tells tales about a hitherto unknown accident with the first atomic bomb that caused casualties and reduced the yield of the explosion. It is based in part upon the recollections of one Joseph Fuoco, who had claimed to have been aboard one of the two observations planes that escorted the Enola Gay on its mission to Hiroshima.
But there was one small problem with Pellegrino’s account. Despite Mr. Fuoco’s claims, he was not on the flight. Interviewed by the New York Times in February, Pellegrino admitted having been duped. He told the Times he was stunned: “’I liked and admired the guy. He had loads and loads of papers, and photographs of everything.’ The public record has to be repaired, he added. ‘You can’t have wrong history going out,’ he said. ‘It’s got to be corrected.’”
