Lonnie Hancock posed beneath the airplane that changed the world.

Above Hancock, another serviceman leaned out of the open cockpit window and waved toward the camera.

Between them was the name of the bomber, "Enola Gay."

Hancock, who died earlier this month in La Center, was a member of the 509th Composite Group during World War II. The Army Air Force unit was organized for a unique assignment: Drop the atomic bomb.

The Enola Gay became the first plane to accomplish that mission on Aug. 6, 1945, when Col. Paul Tibbets piloted the B-29 from the 509th's base on the Pacific island of Tinian to Hiroshima.

After the flight took off, "Everybody knew something was going on," said Mike Hancock, one of the veteran's three sons. "The island was abuzz. But nothing was confirmed until the pilot either radioed back or returned."

Three days later, another bomber flew from Tinian to Nagasaki on a similar mission, effectively ending World War II.

The two bombs — "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" — killed more than 200,000 people.

Hancock, 83, had been a mechanic with 393rd Bomb Squadron. He did refueling for the Enola Gay and the other B-29s and also did guard duty on the base.

Hancock's sons said they learned about the atomic bomb in school but had no idea back then that their father had served on Tinian.

"I learned about it in junior high, but I had no idea he was involved in it," said Carl Hancock.

"I knew about the Enola Gay through history class," said Vince Hancock. "When I came to find out he worked on it, I was amazed."

"You had to pretty much pry information out of him," Mike Hancock said.

Some of that might have been the nature of the mission.

Their dad was ordered not to talk about what happened, Mike Hancock said, which led to a couple of very different homecomings.

Lonnie's brother, Charles "Buddy" Hancock, flew 29 missions over Europe as the navigator on the "Tuxedo Tomie." (The base artist painted a penguin on the nose of the B-17, and the plane was named in honor of the newborn son of tail gunner Fred Thompson.)

"Uncle Buddy actually got a ticker-tape parade," Mike Hancock said at a memorial service at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Woodland.

Their dad's unit returned home without fanfare, he said, even though the 509th Composite Group ended the war.

Lonnie Hancock spent most of his life in Texas. In 2005, Beaumont was raked by Hurricane Rita and he moved to La Center to live with Carl and his family.

Their dad's first attempt to leave Texas was an adventure of its own, Carl added.

At 17, Lonnie was too young to enlist in the service.

"He and a pal bought a car and were going to drive to Canada," where they thought they could enlist in the Royal armed forces, Carl said.

"The car broke down and they had to hitchhike back to Texas," Carl said. "Charles thinks dad enlisted on his 18th birthday."