Doolittle Raids Tokyo

Internet site ^ | Unknown | Ryan Davis

[JimVT]

A guess a few of us still remember this historic event.

These "Raiders" were pretty gutsy guys.

[A.A. Cunningham]

[RAY]

Jimmy Doolittle was a true hero and went on to live a very interesting and productive life.

[aomagrat]

Hero Bump!

[expatguy]

Of course if we reimbursed all the "innocent" Japanese civilians for damaging their personal property like we do in Iraq then Doolittle and crew would have bankrupt us.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

This was a different time. It was before lawyers had brankrupted our society.

[E Rocc]

Historians often dismiss the raid as a "pinprick", and militarily it was. Psychologically, it struck even harder than Pearl Harbor hit us. It led to the premature and hurried attack against Midway, where the US Navy took the momentum it never lost.

-Eric

[JimVT]

...if we reimbursed all the "innocent" Japanese civilians for damaging their personal property..

Right!

Earlier this week there was a letter to the editor in the local rag by a guy who was referring to a news release about local school children who sent paper "PEACE" cranes to Hiroshima.

One little first grader was quoted as saying: "For what we did to you in WW2."

The writer said he hoped the people teaching this revisionary history were also reminding the students that the Japanese sent a fleet to Pearl Harbor not "PEACE" cranes.

Chances are they won't get the message.

[wtc911]

My father was Air Corps for 3 plus years in WW2. One story he told every so often was the service wide belief that Doolittle's plane carried no bombs, guaranteeing him enough fuel to reach China.

[mathluv]

I enjoyed War Stories telling about this - 2 weeks ago?

[Tijeras_Slim]

Jimmy Doolittle was a true hero and went on to live a very interesting and productive life.

He had lived one heck of a life before the raid!

[Defendingliberty]

Doolittle's Tokyo Raid The Eight Who Were Captured "On Aug. 28, 1942, Hallmark, Farrow, and Spatz were given a "trial" by Japanese officers, although they were never told the charges against them. On Oct. 14, 1942, Hallmark, Farrow, and Spatz were advised they were to be executed the next day. At 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 15, 1942 the three Americans were brought by truck to Public Cemetery No. 1 outside Shanghai. In accordance with proper ceremonial procedures of the Japanese military, they were then shot."

[Defendingliberty]

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/wwii/cp6.htm

link to above story

[scottinoc]

Cool portrayal by Spencer Tracy

[JimVT]

Coincidentally....this week I was changing dates on my Warbirds Daily calendar when the Douglas SBD was pictured On Thursday.

The copy beneath the picture read: "Few aircraft have ever had the honor of effecting the exact turning point of a war.

Yet the Douglas SBD did exactly that at the Battle of Midway, knocking out four Japanese carriers." "

[Defendingliberty]

Those JAPS

[Defendingliberty]

here is the poster

[MosesKnows]

eight American flyers were prisoners of the Japanese Police

The movie Purple Heart produced in 1944 depicts the trials of the American flyers. Eight American airmen crash-land during the Doolittle bombing raid on Tokyo and are taken prisoner. Though slated for execution, the pilots are put through a "show trial" by the military, on a charge of committing war crimes.

Also in 1944 the movie Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo depicts the planning and execution of the raid. Spencer Tracy plays Lt. Col. James P. Doolittle, who led the bombing raid over Tokyo. Most of the footage concerns pilot Ted Lawson played by Van Johnson, who loses a leg while escaping from China after the attack; other subplots concern the meticulous preparations for the raid, and the individual exploits of those Doolittle flyers who crashed into the sea or were captured by the Japanese.

[VeniVidiVici]

Believe it or not, while stationed at the Presidio of Monterey, CA in 1985, I had the opportunity to interview General Doolittle for our little company newspaper.

He lived in Carmel, CA at the time. A wonderful gentleman who patiently told us the story of the raid even though he must have told it thousands of times before.

Hanging on the wall of the room where we interviewed him was a picture of President Reagan awarding him his 4th (5th?) star. I remember thinking at the time I had heard no news about this and that it was pretty impressive a guy in his 90s was still making rank ;-)

The sad part is I recorded the interview but during subsequent moves around the states and overseas it was lost.

[Defendingliberty]

The Book "First over Japan" by Capt Jack Sims a Doolittle Raider. He went on to fly many missions in a B-26.