If the American public knew the whole story about that raid (and about the approximately 250,000 Chinese lives lost to the Japanese response), the celebrations would almost certainly have been much less sanguine.
(In terms of innocent blood lost, that raid was arguably the most expensive morale-building exercise in U.S. military history.)
“...(In terms of innocent blood lost, that raid was arguably the most expensive morale-building exercise in U.S. military history.)”
Although I’m sure you didn’t mean it, your post sounds like we had some culpability for the subsequent Japanese butchery, we did not. The horrors and atrocities committed by the Japanese in response to that raid and for the help the Chinese gave our downed American pilots is solely the responsibility of Japan.
That raid was brilliant and audacious, and that raid had a profound effect on the Japanese psyche and war strategy going forward. Their new fear of an attack on the Emperor and their home islands caused them to tie down many more resources than they had ever planned.
The Doolittle Raid was one of the best examples of why those Americans are truly in the running for the moniker, the Greatest (American) Generation.
I wonder if Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci got the idea for the Chinese virus from Unit 731 ?....
Unit 731’s commanding officers debated the best bacteria to use, settling on plague, anthrax, cholera, typhoid, and paratyphoid, all of which would be spread via spray, fleas, and direct contamination of water sources.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/untold-story-vengeful-japanese-attack-doolittle-raid-180955001/