Too bad that their sacrifice is being thrown away today by our "leaders".
Posted on 04/18/2022 10:45:28 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Valor. When things were their darkest for the U.S. after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Raiders gave the nation hope. Sixteen B-25s, each with a five-man crew, were lined up on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. This had never been tried in war—sending heavy bombers off a carrier.
Because the Japanese military had learned of the strategy, the planes had to take off from farther out in the Pacific than had been planned. Their mission was to hit Tokyo, but now they would lack enough fuel to reach safety beyond Japan’s borders. They went anyway. They bombed Tokyo, then tried to make it to China. Four planes crashed, 11 crews had to bail out, and three Raiders died. Eight were captured, and three were executed. One aviator died of starvation in a prison camp.
...Tom, was the navigator of plane No. 9. After hitting Tokyo he bailed out over a Chinese forest, fell ill with malaria and almost died. When he recovered he flew more missions in Europe, was shot down and spent almost two years in a German prison camp. Then he came home and quietly raised a family. He died in 2013 at 96.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Wow. God must have loved the United States to send such men to populate it.
They were an amazing group of men. I have a map of the raid, signed by a handful of Raiders, that was given to my grandfather aboard the Hornet shortly before they launched.
Filthy nips murdered thousands of Chinese in retaliation:
Too bad that their sacrifice is being thrown away today by our "leaders".
Between you and me, it was amazing those B25s launched from a carrier could get off the deck.
Why?
Mitchell and his men had cojones the size of bowling balls.
5.56mm
I have a map of the raid, signed by a handful of Raiders, that was given to my grandfather aboard the Hornet shortly before they launched.
That is very cool. What a piece of history!
There are moments in war where a propaganda victory outweighs any tactical calculation or effect and the Doolittle Raid was perhaps the biggest example.
It was a huge blow to the psyche of Japan and the psychological damage (and boost to the US) did far more than a thousand times the tonnage of mobs could have.
Not so much balls as careful engineering, and practice. They did it because the knew they could do it.
I managed to find a number and called his aide to setup an interview for our little company paper.
Long story short, we (me and sidekick) got to talk to General Doolittle for little more than an hour. Of course he told the story about the raid, which I'm sure he had told thousands of times before that day, in addition to other things. It was quite the experience.
This pic of General Doolittle getting his fourth star was hanging on his wall
A fly-over tribute today if you in the hood...:
Truly the greatest generation. Thank you to all WWII vets.
The Doolittle Raid was the subject of a Jeopardy! question last week. None of the contestants could guess the capital the Raiders bombed.
—”They were an amazing group of men.”
“Uncommon valor was a common virtue.”
AND NOT JUST ON IWO.
Doolittle was THE definition of “the right stuff” in my opinion.
—” None of the contestants could guess the capital the Raiders bombed.”
That makes my heart sink.
Absolutely!
Great picture of real Americans.
How did Arizona go from a Barry Goldwater to a Juan McStain?
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