Posted on 04/20/2006 4:32:27 PM PDT by SandRat
Biography:
Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Lichte, USAF
Related Sites:
DoD Web Special: The Doolittle Raid
Air Force Web Special: Doolittle Tokyo Raid
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
Related Articles:
Doolittle Raiders Celebrate 64th Reunion
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Celebrate 64th Anniversary
Doolittle Raids: Beginning of End For Imperial Japan
Doolittle Raiders retired Lt. Col. Dick Cole (right) and retired Lt. Col. Chase Nielsen raise their goblets to toast their fellow Raiders at the group's reunion in Dayton, Ohio, April 18. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Cecilio M. Ricardo Jr., USAF
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Eight of the surviving 16 Doolittle Raiders raise their goblets for their fallen brothers during their reunion in Dayton, Ohio, April 18. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Cecilio M. Ricardo Jr., USAF
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Retired Master Sgt. Ed Horton honors the memory of retired Lt. Col. Horace Crouch by turning his goblet upside down at the goblet ceremony during the Doolittle Raider reunion on the raid's 64th anniversary, in Dayton, Ohio, April 18. The goblet ceremony is held to honor the Raiders who died since their last meeting. This year, they honored Crouch, who passed away Dec. 21 from pneumonia. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Cecilio M. Ricardo Jr., USAF
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Thirty Seconds over Tokyo Remembered!
How can one not want to stand smartly at attention and salute these brave warriors. To them go the thanks, and to them go the honor.
God bless the Doolittle Raiders. Those guys really embody the American spirit. Who would have thought that you could launch Army bombers from Navy aircraft carriers and strike the heart of Japan? It was so crazy that we made it work!
Eight were present at the ceremony, where are the other eight?
So many of the cups are upside down in that photo. So few left, bless um.
And in the teeth of a storm that produced 30 foot waves. The bobbing of the flight deck was such that pilots started their run looking at a wall of water hoping that the bow would be rising at take-off. Doolittle was the first to take off anxiously watched by all the flight crews. When he cleared the deck there was jumping and shouting as though the team had scored a touch down.
Realize as well that the carrier was reported to have been detected and the decision was made to launch 200 miles before the planned launch point into strong head winds, virtually guaranteeing that most if not all of the planes would not make it to the Chinese mainland. And yet not a man declined to fly.
That same storm provided cover for the Doolittle group over Tokyo. Interviews with Japanese revealed that many waved at the bombers believing them to be Japanese. After the raid the Japanese filed protest that the raid was 'unfair'. Imagine that.
After the bombing run providence stepped in and the winds shifted. They were then flying with strong tailwinds allowing most to make the mainland.
...Did I mention that there were no catapults yet.
um,...unable to travel????.....
B-25B bombers on board USS Hornet for the Doolittle raid.
Doolittle's plane taking off from the Hornet.
This is a great site put together by Todd Joyce, son of Lt. Richard O. Joyce, pilot of plane #10.
The Doolittle Tokyo Raiders
BTTT
bump
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