Posted on 07/13/2021 11:45:17 AM PDT by sodpoodle
During the 3-1/2 years of World War II that started with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 and ended with the surrender of Germany and Japan in 1945, "We the People of the U.S.A." produced the following: 22 aircraft carriers 8 battleships 48 cruisers 349 destroyers 420 destroyer escorts 203 submarines34 million tons of merchant ships 100,000 fighter aircraft 98,000 bombers 24,000 transport aircraft 58,000 training aircraft 93,000 tanks 257,000 artillery pieces 105,000 mortars 3,000,000 machine guns and 2,500,000 military trucks We put 16.1 million men in uniform in the various armed services, invaded Africa, invaded Sicily and Italy, won the battle for the Atlantic, planned and executed D-Day, marched across the Pacific and Europe, developed the atomic bomb and, ultimately, conquered Japan and Germany.
It’s amazing what America did in those days Many of you already know the story, here is the update. THE FINAL TOAST The text below references the movie “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.” There is a second film made in 1944 that details the “show” trials of the 11 airmen who were captured & tortured by the Japanese titled “The Purple Heart.” Three were executed as war criminals, a fourth died in captivity. The FINAL TOAST! They bombed Tokyo 78 years ago. They once were among the most universally admired and revered men in the United States .. There were 80 of the Raiders in April 1942, when they carried out one of the most courageous and heart-stirring military operations in this nation's history. The mere mention of their unit's name, in those years, would bring tears to the eyes of grateful Americans.
Now only none survive. After Japan'ssneak attack on Pearl Harbor, with the United States reeling and wounded, something dramatic was needed to turn the war effort around. Even though there were no friendly airfields close enough to Japan for the United States to launch a retaliation, a daring plan was devised. Sixteen B-25s were modified so that they could take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. This had never before been tried -- sending such big, heavy bombers from a carrier.The 16 five-man crews, under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle, who himself flew the lead plane off the USS Hornet, knew that they would not be able to return to the carrier. They would have to hit Japan and then hope to make it to China for a safe landing.But on the day of the raid, the Japanese military caught wind of the plan. The Raiders were told that they would have to take off from much farther out in the Pacific Ocean than they had counted on. They were told that because of this they would not have enough fuel to make it to safety. And those men went anyway.They bombed Tokyo and then flew as far as they could. Four planes crash-landed; 11 more crews bailed out, and three of the Raiders died. Eight more were captured; three were executed. Another died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp. One crew made it to Russia .The Doolittle Raiders sent a message from the United States to its enemies, and to the rest of the world: We will fight. And, no matter what it takes, we will win. Of the 80 Raiders, 62 survived the war. They were celebrated as national heroes, models of bravery. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a motion picture based on the raid; "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo ," starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, was a patriotic and emotional box-office hit, and the phrase became part of the national lexicon. In the movie-theater previews for the film, MGM proclaimed that it was presenting the story........ "with supreme pride."Beginning in 1946, the surviving Raiders have held a reunion each April, to commemorate the mission. The reunion is in a different city each year. In 1959, the city of Tucson , Arizona , as a gesture of respect and gratitude, presented the Doolittle Raiders with a set of 80 silver goblets. Each goblet was engraved with the name of a Raider.Every year, a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is transported to the reunion city. Each time a Raider passes away, his goblet is turned upside down in the case at the next reunion, as his old friends bear solemn witness.Also in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special cognac The year is not happenstance: 1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle was born.There has always been a plan: When there are only two surviving Raiders, they would open the bottle, at last drink from it, and toast their comrades who preceded them in death. As 2013 began, there were five living Raiders; then, in February, Tom Griffin passed away at age 96.What a man he was. After bailing out of his plane Over a mountainous Chinese forest after the Tokyo raid, he became ill with malaria, and almost died. When he recovered, he was sent to Europe to fly more combat missions. He was shot down, captured, and spent 22 months in a German prisoner of war camp.The selflessness of these men, the sheer guts ... There was a passage in the Cincinnati Enquirer obituary for Mr. Griffin that, on the surface, had nothing to do with the war, but that was emblematic of the depth of his sense of duty and devotion: "When his wife became ill and needed to go into a nursing home, he visited her every day. He walked from his house to the nursing home, fed his wife, and at the end of the day brought home her clothes. At night, he washed and ironed her clothes. Then he walked them up to her room the next morning. He did that for three years until her death in 2005."So now, out of the original 80, only four Raiders remain: Dick Cole (Doolittle's co-pilot on the Tokyo raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor and David Thatcher. All are in their 90s. They have decided that there are too few of them for the public reunions to continue. The events in Fort Walton Beach marked the end. It has come full circle; Florida 's nearby Eglin Field was where the Raiders trained in secrecy for the Tokyo mission. The town planned to do all it can to honor the men: a six-day celebration of their valor, including luncheons, a dinner and a parade.Do the men ever wonder if those of us for whom they helped save the country have tended to it in a way that is worthy of their sacrifice? They don't talk about that, at least not around other people. But if you find yourself near Fort Walton Beach this week, and if you should encounter any of the Raiders, you might want to offer them a word of thanks. I can tell you from first hand observation that they appreciate hearing that they are remembered. The men have decided that after this final public reunion they will wait until a later date -- sometime this year -- to get together once more, informally and in absolute privacy. That is when they will open the bottle of brandy. The years are flowing by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are only two of them. They will fill the four remaining upturned goblets. And raise them in a toast to those who are gone.Their 70th Anniversary Photo PLEASE SEND THIS ON TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHO WERE TOO YOUNG TO KNOW ABOUT THESE BRAVE HEROES. They are all gone now but should never be forgotten
God Bless them all.
Guys in those days were shorter. Most military aircraft are designed for people five foot eight or less.
“Those men must have been limber to get around in that aircraft. It’s tight!”
I’m a big fan of shows that feature restoration of historical war machines. One show had a pilot who flew a Supermarine Spitfire during the Battle of Britain. When the restoration was complete the old fellow struggled into the cockpit, once in he deadpanned “I seem to remember having a bit more space back in the day.” He then explained it was even a close fit back then.
When the restoration crew asked what he thought of their work he said it looked like a Spitfire, smelt like a Spitfire, but there was something missing. They fired up the rebuilt Merlin V-12 and the old boy smiled “yes, that is a Spitfire.”
“A P-51 mustang, the most advanced fighter of its time, cost something like $50,000 per unit.”
After the war they were practically giving them away. Many flying enthusiasts bought them because of their image and cheap price. Same built for the military plane, same Merlin engine just without the guns and bomb and rocket mounts.
A retired jet jockey bought one in the late 90’s. After his first flight in it he said he would never pilot another plane, the P-51 was that good.
Incidentally, the last P-51 Mustang was retired from service in 1984 by the Dominican Air Force.
Not only did we do all that, but we FED the entire Soviet Army. (THEY loved Spam!!)
If it hadn’t been for us Russia would be a province of Germany. We supplied them with...vehicles.
The USA alone supplied the Russians with 501,660 tactical wheeled and tracked vehicles, including 77,972 Jeeps, 151,053 1.5 t trucks and 200,622 2.5 t trucks.
Airplanes
14,833 US aircraft of all types were sent to Russia between 1942 and 1944.
That includes bombers and fighters. The Russians loved the English Hurricane because it was so sturdy.
Add in food, boots, uniforms, medicines, etc.
https://www.ww2-weapons.com/lend-lease-tanks-and-aircrafts/
But what often gets me when I think of was was accomplished in those three years and realize that today it takes us three years to build a new highway off ramp!
—”Did they ever open up the bottle?”
Some events are forever pending on the internet.
A good thing for this one forever remembered.
From 2013:
https://www.militarytimes.com/2013/04/21/doolittle-raiders-gather-for-final-reunion/
From 2019:
Richard Cole, Doolittle Raiders’ last survivor, dies at 103
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/09/richard-cole-doolittle-raiders-dies-103/3416542002/
Anything that includes “We the people” that isn’t the Constitution is hackneyed.
“To this day, when you talk to any former carrier hand, they would have loved to have been there to see that.”
In 1992 they could have seen a recreation:
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/military-vehicle-news/b-25s-carrier-remember-the-doolittle.html
https://m.facebook.com/USNHistory/posts/10154454126533344
Doolittle was an amazing man. He is the one who pioneered flying by instrument and tested it himself in the cockpit of a biplane that was covered in a hood so he could not see out.
Martin Caidin, in his book Fork-Tailed Devil: The P-38, tells of brand-new surplus P-38s being sold for $1,250 in Kingman, AZ, January 1946.
They were giving them away! Cheaper than paying maintenance on them and better than letting them rot in a boneyard.
As a kid I loved the look of the P-38, still do. The pilots that flew them loved them. It was a flight of long ranging P-38’s that took out Yamamoto.
Eighth Air Force commander Lt. Gen. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle would later call the P-38 “the sweetest-flying plane in the sky.”
But the Lightning had problems with the Allison engines and were “too much plane for the average pilot” according to 20th Fighter Group commander Colonel Harold J. Rau.
The P-38 Lightning
https://www.historynet.com/p-38-flunked-europe.htm
That is my understanding. The pilots were ready, Øbowel and PIAPS refused to give the Go signal.
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