Remembrance- the aftermath

Dusk April 18, 1942 the 16 B-25 aircraft launched of the deck of the USS Hornet are all down. One man was killed during a bailout attempt over water, two more crew members drowned during the crash landing of their aircraft into the China sea. One aircraft made it to, and landed at at Vladivostok Russia, Russian authorities interned them for almost a year. 8 crew members fell into Imperial Japanese hands 3 were later executed as "war criminals" by Japan, one died in captivity from malnutrition and beri-beri, the remaining 4 airmen survived almost 4 years of captivity, most of it spent in solitary confinement. The remaining 64 crew members successfully evaded capture by the Japanese, many with assistance from Chinese nationalists. After returning to service, 12 of them died in aircraft crashes within 15 months, four more were captured by enemy forces and became POWs. The Chinese paid dearly for their assistance, in May 1942 Imperial Japan launches operation Sei-Go, when it's over an estimated 250,000 Chinese nationals are killed in retaliation for aiding the downed aircrews.

Lt Col Doolittle believing the 16 aircraft in his command are all lost and the minimal damage inflicted on the targets is anticipating a Court Marshall for his actions on the previous day. He considers the mission a failure. In fact upon his return to Washington DC he is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the first for action in WWII and is immediately promoted 2 ranks to Brigadier General. He remains a flag grade officer until his retirement.

The lasting effects of the raid- It causes a tremendous boost in American morale AND forces Japan to divert some of it's forces from offensive action to defense of the homeland.

I first got the idea to do this post after reading a similar series of posts another member did in commemoration of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I believe most Americans don't know that we bombed the Japanese mainland only 4 months, 1 week and 4 days after Pearl Harbor. I also want too pay tribute to the aircrews and the others that made this and other missions possible, without their sacrifice our world would be much different today. The hallmark of the greatest generation, they came out of the depression for the most part volunteered for service to their country. They did what they had to do and quietly returned to their lives, many carrying scars that haunted them for the rest of their lives. They didn't demand anything for the most part they did what they felt was expected of freemen in a democracy.

Thank you for listening

Good job.

--->Paul

There are so many interesting and amazing stories.Good post!

Thanks for posting.

The tactically ineffective Doolittle raid was instrumental in convincing the Japanese that it would be necessary to seek out and destroy the US carriers that had fortunately been at sea during the Pearl Harbor attack. This contributed to the Japanese decision to attack Midway in order to do so.

At midway, the tide turned decisively, forcing the Japanese onto the defensive for the duration of the war.

As a result, the Doolittle raid was strategically very successful, though this would not be apparent for some time.

Dean

Thanks for posting this......the only thing wrong with this story is that all of the air crews involved should have been awarded the Medal of Honor.


Just one small thing.....it's the Medal of Honor.....yes it has to be approved by congress but congressional isn't part of the name. It kinda bothers me cause most members of congress, both Democratic and nnalert have little if any honor and I for one don't think their post should be attached to the Medal of Honor.


Rick

Men Of REAL courage...... God Bless each &
everyone.

Great post, but what do you follow up with? Baatan? Coral Sea? Midway's been mentioned. Shouldn't leave out some folks that went across Utah / Omaha or Gold / Juno / Sword beaches on the other side of the world. Bridge at Remagan? Battle of the Bulge? North Africa? For sure that generation served well enough to brag and never would. I'm only 52, best I can do is make sure the scout troop knows some of the dates.

Hi wisbaker" I remember reading about the various details related to flying those B-25s. The pilots had to learn to force the aircraft off the deck much much sooner then normal before being accepted as one of the chosen pilots to go on the raid. They also had to launch a lot sooner because they thought a spotter fishing boat may have transmitted their position. That early launch used up too much fuel that could have been used to evade capture...etc etc. They had to learn to fly at wave-top heigth for latter part of the flight before going into Japan. It was a "just barely got it done" flight all the way.. Nooo Sunday after noon joy ride for sure. ag

Thank you wisbaker.
This has been interesting to say the least.
The first year of the was was chock full of events that shaped the course of the Pacific war.
I would like to see more of the major events mentioned here on 70th anniversary of when they happened.

Please keep posting.
Led

Just follow Jimmy Dolittle's military career.
He was leader of Air Force for the North Africa
campaign, then Italy, then called to England by
Eisenhower to command the Eighth Air Force
against Germany and even flew his own P51 over
Germany, as a 2 star general, until forbidden to
fly combat missions. He retired as a 3 star General, and was awarded his 4th star by Ronald
Reagan!

THANKS for the post.This gutsy fellow flew the 1st instrument flight in 1931 in a plane with ALL windows and visual opennings taped over from St. Louis to Chicago to prove the performance of Aircraft instrumentation flights. When he was on the Board of directors of Standard Oil at 82 he did a hand stand on the outside window sill some thirty stories up to prove his conviction for a key issue to the board of directors. Yes he's my Hero and mentor. ( A distant relative and proud to carry the name)