Posted on 05/06/2012 8:44:33 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Three of Doolittle’s Raiders who helped boost American morale during the early days of World War II recalled the dangers of their bold bombing attack on the Japanese mainland.
Airman Edward Saylor didn’t expect to come back alive when his B-25 set off on the 1942 mission.
“Some of the group thought they’d make it,” Saylor said Saturday. “But the odds were so bad.”
Saylor and the other 79 Doolittle’s Raiders were forced to take off in rainy, windy conditions significantly further from Japan than planned, straining their fuel capacity. None of the 16 planes’ pilots had ever taken off from an aircraft carrier before.
Saylor and two other raiders, Maj Thomas Griffin and Staff Sgt David Thatcher—all in their 90s now—recalled their daring mission and its leader, Lt Col Jimmy Doolittle, at a commemoration Saturday aboard the USS Hornet in Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco.
Their mission has been credited with boosting American spirits at a critical time, less than five months after the devastating Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and with Japan sweeping through the Pacific. The bombing inflicted only scattered damage, but lifted spirits at home while shaking Japan’s confidence.
But it did not come without a price.
Three raiders were killed while trying to land in China. Eight were captured by the Japanese, of whom three were executed and a fourth died of disease in prison.
The Japanese also killed Chinese villagers suspected of helping many of the airmen escape.
Griffin recalled ditching his plane when it ran out of fuel after the raid and parachuting to the ground in darkness.
“I got out of my airplane by jumping real fast,” he said. “It was a long, strange journey to the land down below.”
Griffin landed in a tree and clung to it until daybreak.
Saturday’s event was held in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the raiders’ April 18, 1942 mission. It also included: Doolittle’s granddaughter, Jonna Doolittle Hoppes; two seamen aboard the carrier the raiders left from, the USS Hornet CV-8, Lt Cmdr Richard Nowatzki and Lt J.G. Oral Moore; and a Chinese official who as a teenager helped rescue the raiders, Lt Col Chu Chen.
The American airmen remembered Doolittle as a great planner who knew his aircraft and fought alongside them.
Hoppes said her grandfather, who was born in Alameda and died in 1993, was very proud of the men on the mission.
“I grew up with 79 uncles in addition to the ones I really had,” she said. “He was just very proud of how they turned out.”
While the damage from the raid was minimal, the embarrassment that Tokyo and other cities were bombed caused the Japanese Navy (1) to pull its units back from the Indian Ocean and the Coral Sea (at least in part) and (2) target Midway to prevent a recurrence. The rest, as they say, is history.
“Where do we get men like this?” The answer is a free Republic that values life, law and property. Currently we have many warriors who have fought for the last 11 years and also deserve equal recognition. Taking nothing away from this generation..we have many heroes in our midst. This morning at church I met a young Marine who had lost both legs in this war..now fighting to establish a new life. We need to honor our heroes.
I am not sure the mission was a good idea tho the men who flew them were indeed heroes. When they were launched they had little hope of reaching a safe destination. I really think they should have gotten the 500 miles closer despite the fishing boat having gotten off a message.
The loss of 16 B-25s and a lot of their crews was worth a lot more than the damage they did.
It may have had morale value but who knows for sure? It might have even made the Japanese more adamant in fighting against us.
Ironically, it was a major victory for the US, as it caused the Japanese to (mostly) recall their fleets when there was very little to oppose them.
It had never been done before. There were calculations by some faceless engineer, who had calculated it could be done.
Barely. Maybe...
So, you're sitting there on deck, revving the engines to peak RPM, the deck is pitching up and down, you take your feet off the brakes...then what? When do you start hauling back on the yoke? Do you close your eyes? Do you pray?
This early in the war, the loss of 16 B-25s was fairly significant but by 1943/44 standards was modest.
It may have had morale value but who knows for sure? It might have even made the Japanese more adamant in fighting against us.
The raid solidified Japanese resolve to invade Midway and things went pretty well for the Americans at Midway.
Actually Doolittle had already done it off the coast of Norfolk.
During the mission they had a good wind and with the carrier’s added speed you can see them just about lifting into the air well before reaching the end of the runway.
They at first appear to be barely moving but they are going into something like 80mph winds One made it even tho he forgot to set his flaps.
Probably prevented an invasion of Hawaii.
I met one of them, his son was a classmate of mine.
“When do you start hauling back on the yoke?”
I guess I would wait until the one before me made it up successfully! Hmm - what if the first plane had gone into the drink - would the second one have tried?
Sounds like a simple innocuous sentence in a article.
However, by some estimates and now quoting from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_Raid#cite_ref-3, it states
"Approximately 250,000 Chinese civilians were massacred by the Japanese Army in eastern China in retaliation for Chinese assistance of the attacking American aviators.[4]"
I believe that is as much part of the story as bravery of these fine men. Am sure they would never want that part of the story ever forgotten. And I hope we as Americans can honor and never forget what they (Chinese civilians) did for these men and the price they paid for their freedom.
That's why Doolittle took off first.
Doolittle was first. I’m pretty sure every plane would have tried.
I doubt that the men who flew the mission would agree with you.
I don’t either. But you’re certainly welcome to your opinion.
Anyone who does not fully understand the importance of "face" to Samurai-descendent Japanese can't grasp how terribly devastating the Doolitte raid was to the Japanese military...
One of my favorote family possesioins is a map of the raid signed by several of the raiders including Doolittle with a note presenting it to my grandfather. The note ends with the line “Tokyo Bound April 1942.” Heroes, One and all.
Kind of off topic but the whole “never done it before” aspect reminds me of another Aviation on the sea in the military story I heard of. When I was at the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola they had a C-130 that was a part of an experiment to see if they could land it on a carrier at sea. They had to put the props in reverse prior to touching down but they made it.
The 130 is a pretty incredible bird. Almost 10 x’s the amount of power it needs to fly and you can wrap it around like a fighter before the gear comes all the way up. I’ve had more than a few “white-knuckle” hops on a 130. Never a concern.
>I really think they should have gotten the 500 miles closer despite the fishing boat having gotten off a message.
Sir, that is stupid beyond belief. Our carrier would certainly have been sunk - 16 B-25s whose only value was minimal without forward bases to reach any target was slight loss in context of the war and their staying out & doing nothing would have added nothing at all to the war effort in the pacific theater.
Who knows for sure?? The public at that time and the men who flew the mission, thats who!
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