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

by Scott, James M.

  309 A postwar analysis: Shibata and Hara, Dōrittoru Kūshū Hiroku, p. 211.

  309 including a woman: Hayakawa Fuyo affidavit, March 11, 1946, in case of United States of American vs. Shigeru Sawada et al.

  309 “One father wrote”: Allied Translator and Interpreter Section, South West Pacific Area, Research Report, “Psychological Effect of Allied Bombing on the Japanese,” Sept. 21, 1944, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australia.

  310 “Today, April 18”: “Enemy Planes Raid Tokyo-Y’hama; Defense Units Shoot Down 9 Craft,” Osaka Mainichi, April 19, 1942, p. 1.

  310 That was followed: “Warnings Sounded,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 19, 1942, p. 1.

  310 “The time has come”: “Enemy Planes Fly over Nagoya, Kobe,” Osaka Mainichi, April 19, 1942, p. 1.

  310 “Incendiary bombs were dropped”: “Fires Extinguished,” Osaka Mainichi, April 19, 1942, p. 1.

  310 “The corps guarding the air”: “Warnings Sounded,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 19, 1942, p. 1.

  310 “The Army announced”: Yoshitake Miwa diary, April 19, 1942.

  311 “In connection”: War Department, Office of Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, Magic Summary, “Tokyo Bombing,” May 6, 1942, in The Magic Documents, Microfilm Roll #1.

  311 “This afternoon a few spots”: “International Law Grossly Violated by Enemy Air Units,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 20, 1942, p. 1.

  311 Newspaper headlines: “9 Enemy Raiders Downed,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 19, 1942, p. 1; “Damage by Incendiary Bombs Small; Planes Repulsed,” ibid., April 19, 1942, p. 1; “Dog-Fights Staged in Air over Capital,” ibid., April 19, 1942, p. 1; “Nearly All Planes in Saturday Attack Were Brought Down,” ibid., April 21, 1942, p. 1; “Shot Down or Crashed in Sea Is Fate of All Enemy Planes Which Raided Tokyo, Yokohama,” ibid., April 22, 1942, p. 1.

  311 “The few enemy planes”: “That Air Raid Last Saturday,” editorial, Japan Times & Advertiser, April 22, 1942, p. 6.

  311 Even Emperor Hirohito: “Imperial Family Absolutely Safe in First Air Raid over Capital,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 19, 1942, p. 1.

  311 Others noted that motion picture: “Shows Go on Despite Raid,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 20, 1942, p. 2.

  311 Financial markets: “All Markets Calm in Face of Air-Raid,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 21, 1942, p. 5; “Stocks Unaffected by Initial Air Raid,” ibid., April 21, 1942, p. 5.

  312 “valuable experience”: “Yuzawa Commends People’s Conduct during Air Attack,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 20, 1942, p. 1.

  312 “Air raids are nothing to be feared”: Ibid.

  312 “The truth is”: “Air-Raid Is Desperate American Move to Cover Up Own Successive Debacles,” Osaka Mainichi, April 23, 1942, p. 2.

  312 “Air raids alone”: “Lt.-Gen. Kobayashi Highly Praises Nation’s Defense against Air-Raid,” Osaka Mainichi, April 21, 1942, p. 1.

  312 “I pursued this plane”: “2 Enemy Raiders Are Forced Down after Being Chased by Nippon Planes,” Osaka Mainichi, April 22, 1942, p. 1; Shibata and Hara, Dōrittoru Kūshū Hiroku, pp. 99–101.

  312 “We saw her right engine”: “2 Enemy Raiders Are Forced Down after Being Chased by Nippon Planes,” Osaka Mainichi, April 22, 1942, p. 1.

  312 “The enemy’s daring enterprise”: “First Enemy Air Raid,” Nichi Nichi, in “Today’s Press Comments,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 19, 1942, p. 2.

  312 “The manner in which”: “Visit of Enemy Planes,” Miyako, in “Today’s Press Comments,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 19, 1942, p. 2.

  312 “Their weak attacking”: “Brace Up!,” Hochi, in “Today’s Press Comments,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 19, 1942, p. 2.

  312 “The most important thing”: “Enemy’s Feeble Raid on Japan,” Chugai Shogyo, in “Press Comments,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 20, 1942, p. 3.

  313 “It was a mere gesture”: “That Air Raid Last Saturday,” editorial, Japan Times & Advertiser, April 22, 1942, p. 6.

  313 Reports revealed: “All Markets Calm in Face of Air-Raid,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 21, 1942, p. 5; “More Benefit Is Due for Air-Raid Victims,” Osaka Mainichi, April 24, 1942, p. 3.

  313 “The law provides”: “Sufferers Protection Law to Apply to Those Affected by Recent Raid,” Osaka Mainichi, April 22, 1942, p. 1.

  313 “It is sometimes so poor”: Current Intelligence Section, A-2, Interview with Joseph E. Grew, Ambassador to Japan, Sept. 8, 1942.

  313 Not until April 26: “Miserable Remains of Wrecked Enemy Raider,” Japan Times & Advertiser, April 26, 1942, p. 3.

  314 To maintain the charade: Stilwell msg. to AGO for AMMISCA, No. 699, May 18, 1942, Iris #00116401, AFHRA.

  314 “We expected photographs”: Tom Bernard, “Japs Were Jumpy after Tokyo Raid,” Stars and Stripes, April 27, 1943, p. 2.

  314 “For two weeks after the raid”: Ibid.

  314 “The raid by Doolittle”: “‘Worst’ Feared for Tokyo Fliers by Neutral Diplomats in Japan,” New York Times, April 25, 1943, p. 26.

  314 “The raid did the Japanese”: Guillain, I Saw Tokyo Burning, p. 63.

  315 “The Doolittle raid produced”: Office of Strategic Services, Research and Analysis Branch, Far Eastern Section, “Information Gathered on the S.S. Gripsholm,” Report No. 77, Aug. 27, 1942.

  315 “It could hardly be called”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 300.

  315 “The bombing of Tokyo”: Togo Shigenori, The Cause of Japan, trans. and ed. Togo Fumihiko and Ben Bruce Blakeney (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956), pp. 235.

  315 “In point of physical damage”: Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway, pp. 70–71.

  315 “The attack unnerved”: Saburo Sakai with Martin Caidin and Fred Saito, Samurai! (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1978), p. 128.

  316 “The bombing of Tokyo”: Ibid.

  316 Just six days before: Stephan, Hawaii under the Rising Sun, pp. 112–13.

  316 “It was just as if a shiver”: Kameto Kuroshima interview, Nov. 28, 1964, Box 2, Series 7, GWPP.

  316 “The Doolittle raid”: Yasuji Watanabe interview, Sept. 26, 1964, Box 6, Series 7, GWPP.

  316 “With the Doolittle raid”: Yasuji Watanabe interview, Sept. 25, 1964, ibid.

  316 “Even the most vociferous”: Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway, pp. 71–72.

  317 “Why, everybody wants”: Carlyle Holt, “Raid Infuriates Japan,” Daily Boston Globe, April 21, 1942, p. 1.

  317 “For the best news”: Edward T. Folliard, “Enemy Only Source of News in American Raids on Japan,” Washington Post, April 19, 1942, p. 2.

  317 “I wonder why”: Yoshitake Miwa diary, April 22, 1942.

  317 “The American papers”: “Information Please! Says Anxious Tokyo,” Washington Post, April 24, 1942, p. 1.

  318 “This will prove TNT”: “Washington Hails Report of Bombing,” New York Times, April 19, 1942, p. 38.

  318 “hardly a token”: “Congress Leaders Hail Raids on Jap Centers as Opening Offensive,” Evening Star, April 18, 1942, p. 1.

  318 “This is the only way”: “Washington Hails Report of Bombing,” New York Times, April 19, 1942, p. 38.

  318 who had left two days: William Hassett diary, April 16, 1942, in William D. Hassett, Off the Record with F.D.R., 1942–1945 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1958), p. 36.

  318 “Until twenty-four hours”: King, Fleet Admiral King, p. 376.

  318 “President Roosevelt”: Ernest King to D. B. Duncan, June 2, 1949, Box 18, Ernest J. King Papers, LOC.

  318 “Hell’s a-poppin”: Margaret Suckley diary, April 17, 1942, in Geoffrey C. Ward, ed., Closest Companion: The Unknown Story of the Intimate Friendship between Franklin Roosevelt and Margaret Suckley (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995), p. 156.

  318 “bad humor”: Margaret Suckley diary, April 17, 1942, in Ward, ed., Closest Companion, p. 156.

  318 “So many things”: Eleanor Roosevelt, “My Day,” April 20, 1942.


  318 That evening the president: William Hassett diary, April 17, 1942, in Hassett, Off the Record with F.D.R., 1942–1945, p. 36.

  318 Roosevelt had settled: Rosenman, comp., The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1942 vol., pp. 215–16.

  318 “The President was”: Ibid., p. 216.

  319 “Mr. President”: Ibid.

  319 “What’s the news?”: William Hassett diary, April 19, 1942, in Hassett, Off the Record with F.D.R., 1942–1945, pp. 40–41.

  319 “You know”: Ibid.

  319 “That seemed to me”: Ibid.

  319 “The base”: Ibid.

  319 “I was unfamiliar”: Ibid.

  319 He liked it so much: Margaret Suckley diary, April 21, 1942, in Ward, ed., Closest Companion, p. 156.

  320 “I think the time has come”: Press Conference no. 820, April 21, 1942, in Complete Presidential Press Conferences of Franklin D. Roosevelt, vol. 19, pp. 291–92.

  320 though as Daisy recorded: Margaret Suckley diary, April 21, 1942, in Ward, ed., Closest Companion, p. 156.

  320 “Would you care”: This exchange comes from Press Conference no. 820, April 21, 1942, in Complete Presidential Press Conferences of Franklin D. Roosevelt, vol. 19, pp. 292–93.

  320 “Is there any news today”: Press Conference no. 821, April 24, 1942, ibid., vol. 19, pp. 298–99.

  320 “A southern newspaper editor”: This exchange comes from Press Conference no. 828, May 26, 1942, ibid., pp. 349–50.

  320 Roosevelt would later go: Rosenman, comp., The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1942 vol., p. 216.

  320 The Navy followed: James L. Mooney, ed., Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, vol. 6 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1976), pp. 463–64.

  320 “Shangri-La to Shangri-La”: J. H. Doolittle, Pilot’s Book, April 18, 1942, Box 1, Series XVI, DPUT.

  321 “Mr. President, there are complaints”: This exchange comes from Press Conference no. 821, April 24, 1942, in Complete Presidential Press Conferences of Franklin D. Roosevelt, vol. 19, pp. 299–300.

  321 “As you will have seen”: Franklin Roosevelt to Winston Churchill, April 21, 1943, in Kimball, ed., Churchill & Roosevelt, p. 466.

  321 “The number of airplanes”: H. H. Arnold to Franklin Roosevelt, “Recent Attack on Japan,” April 21, 1942, Microfilm Roll #A1250, AFHRA.

  321 “From the viewpoint”: Ibid.

  321 The general had finally received: T. V. Soong to Henry H. Arnold, April 21, 1942, Microfilm Roll #A1250, AFHRA.

  322 “Everything points to Doolittle”: H. H. Arnold to Franklin Roosevelt, “Recent Attack on Japan,” April 22, 1942, ibid.

  322 “The Soviet military authorities”: William Standley, msg. No. 121, April 22, 1942, ibid.

  322 “The crew”: George Marshall to Franklin Roosevelt, “Interning of American Plane in Vladivostok,” April 23, 1942, Box 55, RG 165, Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, Office of the Director of Plans and Operations, NARA.

  322 “It would appear desirable”: George Marshall to U.S. Military Attaché, Moscow, April 23, 1942, Box 41, ibid.

  322 “This might have been”: William D. Leahy, I Was There: The Personal Story of the Chief of Staff to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman Based on His Notes and Diaries Made at the Time (New York: Whittlesey House/McGraw-Hill, 1950), p. 86.

  322 “I have always been”: Henry Stimson diary, April 18, 1942, Box 75, Series 5.2, GWPP.

  323 “few earnest words”: Henry Stimson diary, April 21, 1942, ibid.

  323 “The United States government”: “Stimson Warns of Raids on U.S.,” New York Times, May 29, 1942, p. 1.

  323 “Don’t forget the payoff”: “24-Hour Air Alert by Police Ordered,” New York Times, April 20, 1942, p. 1.

  323 Brooklyn held a massive: “Second Blackout Darkens Brooklyn,” New York Times, April 22, 1942, p. 14.

  323 Similar fears triggered: “3-Hour Alert on Coast,” New York Times, April 20, 1942, p. 3.

  323 “We drank a bottle”: Lewis Brereton diary, April 18, 1942, in Brereton, The Brereton Diaries, p. 119.

  323 “Tokyo bombed!”: “At Our Enemy’s Heart,” editorial, Washington Post, April 19, 1942, p. B6.

  323 “If we can do it once”: “Remember Tokyo,” editorial, Pittsburgh Press, April 20, 1942, p. 10.

  323 “blow at the heart”: “A Blow at Japan’s Heart,” editorial, New York Times, April 20, 1942, p. 20.

  323 “For 2,600 years”: Ibid.

  324 “balm for the wounds”: “Omens of Victory Seen in Attack; Output of Tanks Is Leading Axis,” Washington Post, April 19, 1942, p. 1.

  324 “consider this another installment”: “The Voice of Vengeance over Japan,” editorial, Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1942, p. A4.

  324 “Encouraging as the news is”: “Bombs on Tokyo,” editorial, Chicago Daily Tribune, April 24, 1942, p. 12.

  324 “Satisfaction felt”: “Japan in the Jitters,” editorial, Daily Boston Globe, April 20, 1942, p. 14.

  CHAPER 19

  325 “Don’t forget, America”: “Threat to Fliers,” New York Times, April 23, 1943, p. 1.

  325 Davy Jones and his men: David Jones diary, April 19–21, 1942, Box 3, Series II, DTRAP; Kenneth Reddy diary, April 20, 1942.

  325 By the time Doolittle: John Hilger diary, April 18, 1942, in Hilger, “On the Raid,” p. 100.

  325 “It was like a homecoming”: Ibid.

  325 “Everywhere we went”: Wildner, “The First of Many,” p. 74.

  326 “I am Danny Wang”: Alan Burgess, The Longest Tunnel: The True Story of World War II’s Great Escape (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1990), p. 91.

  326 “It was the kind”: John Hilger diary, April 19, 1942, in Hilger, “On the Raid,” p. 98.

  326 “Signs of every known”: Eugene McGurl diary, April 18, 1942, Box 3, Series XVI, DPUT.

  326 “The Chinese pluck”: George W. Cooper, “Capt. Clayton Campbell, Orofino Hero of Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, Tells of Varied Chinese Culture,” Lewiston Morning Tribune, June 21, 1943, p. 2.

  326 At Chuchow the Chinese: Greening, Not As Briefed, p. 43.

  326 One of the pilots: “A Trip to Japan,” Time, May 3, 1943, p. 30.

  326 “These people are the most sincere”: David Jones diary, April 25, 1942.

  326 The Chinese had stripped: James Doolittle, “My Raid over Tokyo, April 1942,” transcript of 1965 speech, Box 4, Series IV, DPUT.

  327 “He had the worst cut”: Joseph Manske diary, April 24, 1942.

  327 Some of the fliers blamed: David Jones diary, April 25, 1942.

  327 Fu Man Jones: Greening, Not As Briefed, p. 42.

  327 lost seven dollars: David Jones diary, April 22, 1942.

  327 “When we met up”: Edward Kennedy, “Groceries Fall As U.S. Pilot Pulls Ripcord,” Calgary Herald, April 22, 1943, p. 8.

  327 “He was so tired”: “Details of Individual Adventures in China: For Possible Use of Bureau of Public Relations,” undated.

  327 “We called our home”: Kenneth Reddy diary, April 21, 1942.

  327 “It’s a crime”: William Bower diary, April 21, 1942.

  327 “Frequently, bodies”: Greening, Not As Briefed, p. 43.

  328 “The rails don’t click”: William Bower diary, April 26, 1942.

  328 “Ham and eggs”: Ibid.

  328 “The courtyard outside”: John Hilger diary, April 29, 1942, in Glines, Doolittle’s Tokyo Raiders, pp. 274–75.

  328 “I got my first Chinese shave”: Kenneth Reddy diary, April 26, 1942.

  328 “I rode a Japanese horse”: Ibid., April 29, 1942.

  328 “When it flew over”: Ibid.

  329 Perched atop a promontory: Details on life in Chungking come from the following sources: Dorn, Walkout, p. 32; Diana Lary, The Chinese People at War: Human Suffering and Social Transformation, 1937–1945 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 87.

  329 “There was no escape”: LaVonne Telshaw Camp, Lingering Fe
ver: A World War II Nurse’s Memoir (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1997), p. 99.

  329 “distinguish between”: Henry R. Luce, “China to the Mountains,” Life, June 30, 1941, p. 84.

  329 The Japanese had launched: Lloyd E. Eastman, “Nationalist China during the Sino-Japanese War, 1937–1945,” in Denis Twitchett and John K. Fairbank, eds., The Cambridge History of China, vol. 13, Republican China, 1912–1949, pt. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 567; Lary, The Chinese People at War, p. 87.

  329 The single most savage: Lary, The Chinese People at War, p. 87.

  329 “The city of Chungking boiled”: Robert B. Ekvall, “The Bombing of Chungking,” Asia, Aug. 1939, p. 472.

  329 named the most bombed: “Chungking: Free China’s Much-Bombed Capital Fights On,” Life, March 31, 1942, p. 93; “Chungking,” Daily News, Aug. 18, 1941, p. 5.

  329 Bombs and fires: Dorn, Walkout, p. 32; “Chungking: Bravest City in the World,” Saturday Evening Post, April 8, 1942, pp. 50–51.

  329 Air-raid sirens screamed: “Chungking: Free China’s Much-Bombed Capital Fights On,” p. 93; “City of Caves,” Life, March 31, 1942, p. 99.

  329 “Downtown Chungking”: Dorn, Walkout, pp. 35–36.

  330 The raid against Tokyo: Harrison Forman, “Chinese Elated at Word of Raids on Japan,” New York Times, April 19, 1942, p. 39; “Chinese Cheer News of Yanks’ Raid on Jap Cities,” Washington Post, April 19, 1942, p. 1; “Heard in Chungking,” editorial, ibid., April 26, 1942, p. B6.

  330 “The nightmare”: Forman, “Chinese Elated at Word of Raids on Japan,” p. 39.

  330 “We have been waiting”: “Chinese Cheer News of Yanks’ Raid on Jap Cities,” p. 1.

  330 Doolittle’s men disembarked: Greening, Not As Briefed, p. 44; Kenneth Reddy diary, April 29, 1942.

  330 “We were all astounded”: Kenneth Reddy diary, April 30, 1942.

  330 “For a minute”: William Bower diary, April 30, 1942.

  330 “I couldn’t breathe”: Greening, Not As Briefed, p. 44.

  330 The Chungking-based officers: Kenneth Reddy diary, April 30, 1942.

  330 Engineer George Larkin: George Larkin diary, April 30, 1942.

  331 “Started drinking wine”: Eugene McGurl diary, April 30, 1942.