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Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

Page 62

by Scott, James M.


  69 “The maneuvers were close”: Lawson, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, p. 9.

  69 The men of the Seventeenth: This is based on a review of the oral histories with various Raiders on file at AFHRA.

  70 “It was the greatest”: William Bower oral history interview with Dave Edwards, Oct. 27, 1971, AFHRA.

  70 “There was no tangible”: Lawson, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, pp. 12–13.

  70 “Everybody was interested”: Bower oral history interview with Edwards, Oct. 27, 1971.

  70 “I sure would give anything”: Robert Bourgeois to Ross Greening, Individual Histories questionnaire, undated (ca. 1950), Iris #01010162, AFHRA.

  70 “We played poker”: Joseph Manske diary, Feb. 10, 1942, Box 4, Series II, Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Association Papers (DTRAP), University of Texas at Dallas.

  71 “We lived in tents”: Billy Farrow undated letter to his mother, in Margaret Meadows Stem, Tall and Free as Meant by God (New York: Hearthstone Book/Carlton Press, 1969), pp. 33–34.

  71 “Damn it”: Reynolds, The Amazing Mr. Doolittle, p. 179; C. Ross Greening, Not As Briefed: From the Doolittle Raid to a German Stalag, comp. and ed. Dorothy Greening and Karen Morgan Driscoll (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 2001), p. 11.

  71 “That’s about all”: Reynolds, The Amazing Mr. Doolittle, p. 180.

  71 “The group commander was a colonel”: James H. Doolittle oral history interview with Edward F. Puryear Jr., Feb. 7, 1977.

  72 “Some of you fellows”: Jacob D. DeShazer oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, Oct. 10, 1989, AFHRA.

  72 “Boy”: Ibid.

  72 “I was too big”: Jeff Wilkinson, “‘The Lord Told Me to Go Back,’” State, April 12, 2002, p. 1.

  72 “The entire group stood”: Emmens oral history interview with Hasdorff, July 8–9, 1992.

  72 “Hands just kept”: Charles J. Ozuk Jr. oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, July 1989, AFHRA.

  72 “The name ‘Doolittle’ meant”: Robert L. Hite oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, Dec. 16–17, 1982, AFHRA.

  72 “You can’t volunteer, Mac!”: This exchange comes from McElroy, “When We Were One,” p. 26.

  73 “What are you holding”: Bert M. Jordan oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, June 15, 1988, AFHRA.

  73 “I just wanted”: Ibid.

  73 “It was disgusting”: Gary A. Warner, “Vets Recall Historic US Raid on Tokyo,” Orange County Register, April 16, 1992, p. E02.

  73 “Herb, what do you want?”: James “Herb” Macia oral history interview with Floyd Cox, July 21, 2000, National Museum of the Pacific War, Fredericksburg, Tex.

  73 “Doolittle has been”: David M. Jones oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, Jan. 13–14, 1987, AFHRA.

  73 “There’s been a change”: This exchange comes from Lawson, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, p. 17–18.

  74 “Don’t go denuding”: Edward J. York oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, July 23, 1984, AFHRA.

  74 “We had so many”: Ibid.

  74 “You have to stay behind”: Emmens oral history interview with Hasdorff, July 8–9, 1992.

  74 “Knobby, you should”: This exchange comes from Richard A. Knobloch oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, July 13–14, 1987, AFHRA.

  74 Japan’s rampage: “Axis Fever,” Time, Feb. 23, 1942, p. 16; Breckinridge Long diary, Jan. 28, 1942, and Feb. 5, 1942, in Israel, ed., The War Diary of Breckinridge Long, pp. 245–50.

  74 The news: Breckinridge Long diary, Jan. 13 and Feb. 5, 1942, in Israel, ed., The War Diary of Breckinridge Long, pp. 242–43; David L. Roll, The Hopkins Touch: Harry Hopkins and the Forging of the Alliance to Defeat Hitler (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. 180.

  74 Isolationist newspapers: Bureau of Intelligence to the Director, Office of Facts and Figures, Survey of Intelligence Materials No. 9, Feb. 9, 1942, Microfilm Roll #23, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Office Files, 1933–1944, pt. 4: Subject Files.

  75 “There is a prevailing desire”: Ibid.

  75 America’s efforts: Samuel Eliot Morison, History of the United States Naval Operations in World War II, vol. 3, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931–April 1942 (1948; reprint, Boston: Little, Brown, 1988), pp. 223–54.

  75 “The enemy is on the island”: Ibid., p. 248.

  75 “Everyone seems to feel”: Gordon W. Prange, with Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, Miracle at Midway (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982), p. 6.

  75 “a worse blow”: Ibid.

  75 Constructed atop: “Singapore Stormed,” New York Times, Feb. 15, 1942, p. E1.

  75 “Christ”: Joseph Stilwell diary, Feb. 18, 1942, in White, ed., The Stilwell Papers, p. 40.

  75 For the first time: Survey of Intelligence Materials No. 10, Feb. 16, 1942, Microfilm Roll #23, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Office Files, 1933–1944, pt. 4: Subject Files.

  75 “There can be”: Hanson W. Baldwin, “10 Weeks of Pacific War Show Japan Unchecked,” New York Times, Feb. 15, 1942, p. E4.

  76 “If you will”: Press Conference #807, Feb. 24, 1942, in Complete Presidential Press Conferences of Franklin D. Roosevelt, vol. 19, 1942 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1972), pp. 155–56.

  76 “In the name”: Survey of Intelligence Materials No. 10, Feb. 16, 1942.

  76 The unity: Survey of Intelligence Materials No. 11, Feb. 23, 1942, Microfilm Roll #30, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Office Files, 1933–1944, pt. 4: Subject Files; Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, pp. 321–23; Francis Biddle memo to Franklin Roosevelt, Feb. 17, 1942, Box 7, OF 18, FDRL; Kyle Palmer, “Speedy Moving of Japs Urged,” Los Angles Times, Jan. 31, 1942, p. 1.

  76 “A viper”: W. H. Anderson, “The Question of Japanese-Americans,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 2, 1942, p. A4.

  76 “Herd ’em up”: Henry McLemore, “Why Treat the Japs Well Here?,” San Francisco Examiner, Jan. 29, 1942, p. 9.

  76 “A Jap’s a Jap”: Headquarters Western Defense Command and Fourth Army, Office of the Commanding General, “Transcript of Telephone Conversation between General DeWitt and Mr. McCloy, Asst. Secretary of War, Washington, D.C.,” April 14, 1943, NARA.

  76 “It looks to me”: James Rowe Jr. to Grace Tully, Feb. 2, 1942, Box 33, James H. Rowe Jr. Papers, FDRL.

  76 He signed Executive Order 9066: Greg Robinson, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001), pp. 3–4.

  76 “I do not think”: Biddle, In Brief Authority, p. 219.

  77 “These people were not convicted”: Eleanor Roosevelt, “A Challenge to American Sportsmanship,” Collier’s, Oct. 16, 1943, p. 71. A draft copy of this article is on file in Box 1414, Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, FDRL.

  77 “deep undercurrent of bitterness”: Survey of Intelligence Materials No. 14, Office of Facts and Figures, Bureau of Intelligence, March 16, 1942, Microfilm Roll #30, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Office Files, 1933–1944, pt. 4: Subject Files.

  77 “The Navy has”: Marjorie McKenzie, “Pursuit of Democracy,” Bags and Baggage, Jan. 1942, p. 5.

  77 Another flashpoint: Albert Deutsch and Tom O’Connor, “Red Cross Blood Bias Called Hindrance to War Effort—Luxury We Can’t Afford,” Afro-American, Jan. 17, 1942, p. 9; “Red Cross to Use Blood of Negroes,” New York Times, Jan. 29, 1942, p. 13.

  77 “It is a matter”: Survey of Intelligence Materials No. 14, March 16, 1942.

  77 “The president stated that”: Conference at the White House minutes, Jan. 28, 1942, Microfilm Roll #205, HHAP.

  77 “For this reason I feel”: Memorandum for the President, Jan. 28, 1942, Microfilm Roll #170, HHAP.

  78 “Perhaps it is good”: Eleanor Roosevelt, “My Day,” Feb. 17, 1942.

  78 “Let me say”: “We Must Keep on Striking Our Enemies Wherever and Whenever We Can Meet Them”—Fireside Chat on Progress of the War, Feb. 23, 1942, in Samuel I. Rosenman, comp., The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt,
1942 vol., Humanity on the Defensive (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950), p. 112.

  CHAPTER 5

  79 “For a while”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 292.

  79 “Britain and America”: Ibid., p. 286.

  79 The son of a former samurai warrior: Ibid., pp. 1–3, 17–18, 64–65.

  80 “Whenever I go”: Ibid., p. 65.

  80 Yamamoto twice lived: Ibid., 70–76, 84–85.

  80 “A man who claims”: Ibid., p. 74.

  80 Yamamoto opposed: Ibid., pp. 161–67, 186–87, 385.

  80 “If we are ordered”: Ibid., p.189.

  81 “My present situation”: Goldstein and Dillon, The Pearl Harbor Papers, p. 124.

  81 In past war games: Ibid., p. 116.

  81 “The most important”: Ibid.

  81 The success of the attack: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, pp. 284–90.

  81 “As I see it”: Ibid., p. 287.

  81 Likewise, he rejected: Ibid., p. 288.

  81 “I could never wear them”: Ibid., p. 297.

  81 “I wonder how”: Ibid., pp. 297–98.

  81 In his first wartime: “The Militarists of Berlin and Tokyo Started This War. But the Massed, Angered Force of Common Humanity Will Finish It”—Address to the Congress on the State of the Union, Jan. 6, 1942, in Rosenman, comp., The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1942 vol., pp. 32–42.

  82 “A military man can scarcely pride”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 285.

  82 In the weeks after the attack: “Triumphant Record of Battle of Hawaii Recounted,” Osaka Mainichi, Jan. 3, 1942, p. 1; “Nippon Naval Planes Blast Hickam Field, Hawaii,” ibid., Jan. 2, 1942, p. 1; “Start of Death-Defying Attack on Hawaii,” ibid., Jan. 2, 1942, p. 1; “Smoke Covers Pearl Harbor after Bombing,” ibid., Jan. 3, 1942, p. 4.

  82 “the brilliant curtain”: “Cinema and Account of Battle of Hawaii,” editorial, Osaka Mainichi, Jan. 6, 1942, p. 4.

  82 Other papers published poems: “Pearl Harbor,” Japan Times & Advertiser, Jan. 11, 1942, p. 4; “Cinema and Account of Battle of Hawaii,” editorial, Osaka Mainichi, Jan. 6, 1942, p. 4; “Movie and Theater Notes of Interest,” Japan Times & Advertiser, March 5, 1942, p. 4.

  82 “superhuman”: Staff Naval Writer, “USA to Shift Strategy,” Osaka Mainichi, March 24, 1942, p. 1.

  82 celebrated them as gods: “Nine Naval Heroes Looked to as Gods,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 5, 1942, p. 3.

  82 One newspaper article: “Japan’s Conquest of Indies Predicted Many Years Ago by Prophet Boyo Moyo,” Japan Times & Advertiser, Jan. 14, 1942, p. 1.

  82 “As our country was founded”: “Victory for Japan Seen as Certain,” Japan Times & Advertiser, Jan. 8, 1942, p. 1.

  82 Members of the House: “Representatives Cheer Singapore Fall,” Japan Times & Advertiser, Feb. 17, 1942, p. 2.

  82 Schools suspended class: “Tokyo Celebrates Singapore Victory,” Japan Times & Advertiser, Feb. 17, 1942, p. 1. See Japan Times & Advertiser’s special twelve-page “Victory Supplement,” published Feb. 17, 1942.

  82 Despite rationing: “Singapore Surrender to Be Celebrated with Special Allocations of Beer, Rubber,” Japan Times & Advertiser, Feb. 17, 1942, p. 3.

  82 Even Emperor Hirohito: “Foe Celebrates Singapore’s Fall,” New York Times, Feb. 19, 1942, p. 4.

  82 “The downfall of Singapore”: “Singapore’s Doom and Its Worldwide Effect,” editorial, Osaka Mainichi, Feb. 15, 1942, p. 4.

  83 “Our men”: “A Unique Kigensetsu,” editorial, Japan Times & Advertiser, Feb. 13, 1942, p. 6.

  83 “Once a landing is made”: “Can the United States Be Invaded?,” editorial, Japan Times & Advertiser, Jan. 9, 1942, p. 6.

  83 “Japan Raid by U.S.”: “Japan Raid by U.S. Is Out of Question,” Japan Times & Advertiser, Jan. 12, 1942, p. 1.

  83 “No Fear of America”: “No Fear of America Attacking Empire,” Japan Times & Advertiser, Jan. 16, 1942, p. 2.

  83 Most pointed out: “Japan Raid by U.S. Is Out of Question,” Japan Times & Advertiser, Jan. 12, 1942, p. 1.

  83 “As for aerial attacks”: “U.S. Air Attacks Held Improbable,” Japan Times & Advertiser, Feb. 22, 1942, p. 4.

  83 Most of the nation’s fighters: Headquarters, USAFFE and Eighth U.S. Army (Rear), “Homeland Air Defense Operations Record,” Japanese Monograph #157, 1958, pp. 2, 11–12, 33; idem, “Homeland Operations Record,” Japanese Monograph #17, 1958, pp. 6–7.

  83 “Compared with”: Headquarters, USAFFE and Eighth U.S. Army (Rear), “Homeland Operations Record,” Japanese Monograph #17, 1958, p. 6.

  84 “I do not think”: Headquarters, USAFFE and Eighth U.S. Army (Rear), “Homeland Air Defense Operations Record,” Japanese Monograph #157, 1958, p. 2.

  84 That same confidence: Benjamin Franklin Cooling, ed., Case Studies in the Achievement of Air Superiority (Washington, D.C.: Center for Air Force History, 1994), p. 393.

  84 The veteran admiral: Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1955), pp. 64–65.

  84 “He never failed”: Ibid., p. 65.

  84 Yamamoto ordered daily: Ibid., p. 66; USSBS, Civilian Defense Division, Field Report Covering Air Raid Protection and Allied Subjects, Tokyo, Japan (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1947), pp. 14–15.

  84 “A lot of people are feeling”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 298–99.

  85 twenty-nine-year-old: Background on Henry Miller is drawn from Henry Miller Navy Bio, Jan. 5, 1972, NDL; The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral Henry L. Miller, U.S. Navy (Retired), vol. 1 (Annapolis, Md.: U.S. Naval Institute, 1973), pp. 1–37.

  85 “Is that the Great”: The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral Henry L. Miller, vol. 1, p. 31.

  85 Doolittle had requested: Doolittle, I Could Never Be So Lucky Again, p. 243.

  85 founded in 1933: Historical Branch, Army Air Forces Proving Ground Command, Eglin Field, Fla., “History of the Army Air Forces Proving Ground Command” pt. 1, “Historical Outline,” pp. iii–vii, 32–72, AFHRA.

  85 “It was out in the boonies”: Everett W. “Brick” Holstrom oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, April 14–15, 1988, AFHRA.

  86 “Inasmuch as this is”: John B. Cooley to Commanding Officer, Eglin Field, “Accommodations,” Feb. 17, 1942, Iris #2053039, AFHRA. Even though the Feb. 17 orders specified twenty combat crews, a total of twenty-four ultimately would participate in the training.

  86 “It is requested”: William W. Dick to Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, Feb. 17, 1942, ibid.

  86 “Do you know”: This exchange comes from The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral Henry L. Miller, vol. 1, p. 31.

  86 “Have you ever flown”: Ibid., p. 32.

  86 “Well, that’s all right”: Henry A. Potter oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, June 8–10, 1979, AFHRA.

  87 “That is impossible”: This exchange comes from Henry L. Miller, “Training the Doolittle Fliers,” in John T. Mason Jr., ed., The Pacific War Remembered: An Oral History Collection (Annapolis: Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1986), p. 71.

  87 The two dozen aircrews: Doolittle, I Could Never Be So Lucky Again, pp. 244–46; Merian C. Cooper to Commanding General, American Army Forces in China, Burma and India, Chungking, China, “The Doolittle Air Raid on Japan: Known as First Special Aviation Project,” June 22, 1942, Box 46, RG 407, Military Reference Microfilm, NARA.

  88 “I was a little awestruck”: Bower oral history interview with Edwards, Oct. 27, 1971.

  88 “He was a legend”: James H. Macia oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, July 15–16, 1987, AFHRA.

  88 “I’d built him up”: Harry C. McCool oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, July 21, 1989, AFHRA.

  88 “We were immediately captivated”: Jones oral history interview with Hasdorff, Jan. 13–14, 1987.

  88 “As soon as we heard”: Charles McClure, “How We Bombed Tokyo: Thrilling Epic,” Chicago Daily Tribune, April 27, 1943, p. 1.

  8
8 “My name’s Doolittle”: Lowell Thomas and Edward Jablonski, Doolittle: A Biography (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976), p. 162.

  88 “If you men”: Lawson, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, p. 20.

  88 “Sir”: Glines, Doolittle’s Tokyo Raiders, p. 46.

  88 “No, I can’t”: Lawson, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, p. 20.

  89 “The lives of many men”: Glines, Doolittle’s Tokyo Raiders, p. 46.

  89 “Our training”: Ibid.

  89 “We’ve got about three weeks”: Ibid.

  89 Miller started work immediately: Henry L. Miller to D. B. Duncan, May 7, 1942, Report on Temporary Additional Duty Assignment, Box 6, Series II, DTRAP. A copy of this report is also attached to Miller’s 1973 oral history with the U.S. Naval Institute.

  90 “We can’t do that”: Travis Hoover oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, June 20–21, 1988, AFHRA.

  90 During preliminary training: Henry L. Miller to D. B. Duncan, May 7, 1942.

  90 “Excellent”: Ibid.

  90 “After a little practice”: Cooper, “The Doolittle Air Raid on Japan,” June 22, 1942.

  90 For the final rounds: Henry L. Miller to D. B. Duncan, May 7, 1942; Horace E. Crouch oral history interview with James C. Hasdorff, April 19, 1989, AFHRA.

  90 “It became an intense competition”: Bower oral history interview with Edwards, Oct. 27, 1971.

  91 “Bates, you have to try it again”: The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral Henry L. Miller, vol. 1, p. 35.

  91 The lieutenant throttled up: Technical Report of Aircraft Accident Classification Committee Plus Enclosures, May 1, 1942, AFHRA.

  91 “Sit down”: The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral Henry L. Miller, vol. 1, p. 36.

  91 “No one was hurt”: James P. Bates, statement, included with Technical Report of Aircraft Accident Classification Committee Plus Enclosures, May 1, 1942.

  91 “We just lost”: This exchange comes from Emmens’s oral history interview with Hasdorff, July 8–9, 1982.

  92 Maintenance problems: Doolittle, I Could Never Be So Lucky Again, pp. 246–47; Greening, “The First Joint Action,” pp. 3–6; J. H. Doolittle, Report on the Aerial Bombing of Japan, June 5, 1942.

 

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