Compliments of CSM George Alatzas, USA (Ret)
When asked to identify the base from which they flew, President Franklin Roosevelt replied, “Shangri-La.”
In Fort Walton Beach, Florida, the surviving Doolittle Raiders gathered publicly for the last time.
They once were among the most universally admired and revered men in the United States. There were 80 of the Raiders who in April of 1942, just four months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, embarked on 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 four remain.
After Japan’s sneak attack on Hawaii, with the United States still licking its wounds, 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 retaliate, a daring plan was devised. Sixteen North American B-25s, twin engine “Billy Mitchells,” were modified so that they could take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. This had never before been tried, sending Army Air Corps medium bombers from the deck of a ship at sea.
The 16 five-man crews, under the command of then Lt. Col. James Doolittle, (he retired as a Brigadier general) who himself flew the lead plane off 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.
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 (more than 600 miles) than they had counted on. They were told that because of this they would not have enough fuel to make it to safety.
They went anyway.
They bombed Toyko, then flew as far as they could. Four planes crashed-landed in China; 11 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 Raid 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. It was a patriotic and emotional box-office hit, and the phrase became part of the national lexicon. In the movie theatre previews for the film, MGM proclaimed that it was presenting the story “with supreme pride.”
Part 2 will appear in the August Pioneer Press.