In response to President Franklin Roosevelt’s demand that America strike back against Japan, Admiral Ernest King, U.S. Fleet commander, encouraged his subordinates to develop a plan for a carrier raid against Tokyo. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, a famed racing and stunt pilot, was a pioneer in American aviation. (NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE U.S. AIR FORCE)
Lieutenant General Henry “Hap” Arnold, chief of the U.S. Army Air Forces who had learned to fly from the Wright brothers, tapped his staff troubleshooter Jimmy Doolittle to plan the raid, which would involve flying Army bombers off a Navy carrier. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Vice Admiral William “Bull” Halsey Jr. commanded the Navy’s task force of sixteen warships and ten thousand men. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Captain Marc Mitscher served as the skipper of the Hornet, the 19,800-ton flattop that carried Jimmy Doolittle and his raiders to Japan. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Sailors look on as sixteen Army B-25 bombers, tied down and with wheels chocked, crowd the deck of the carrier Hornet en route to bomb Japan. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
A smiling Jimmy Doolittle, surrounded by his raiders, fastens a Japanese medal to the fin of a 500-pound bomb in a ceremony on the Hornet’s deck on the eve of the raid. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Army airmen on the deck of the Hornet hustle to load ammunition in advance of the raid. Each plane carried four bombs to drop on Japan, as well as .30- and .50-caliber machine guns for defense against Japanese fighters. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
The task force encountered a string of Japanese picket boats early in the morning of April 18, 1942, including this one, which was destroyed by a combination of gunfire and attacks from American planes. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Nashville sailors hold up an exhausted Japanese prisoner of war, rescued from one of the destroyed picket boats. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
One of the sixteen B-25s races its engines in preparation for takeoff for the raid against Tokyo. Heavy winds and fierce seas sent waves over the bow of the towering carrier. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Sailors throughout the task force cheered as each bomber lifted off from the Hornet’s flight deck. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
This photograph of the Yokosuka naval base, shot from one of the bombers, is one of the few images of the raid to have survived. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
A Japanese official stands in a crater more than six feet deep and almost forty-three feet wide, surrounded by the debris of a destroyed wooden factory building in the Tokyo area. The attack by pilot Dean Hallmark not only leveled the structure but also blew out the windows of the adjacent building. (NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE STUDIES)
This bomb crater near an Asahi Electrical Manufacturing Corporation factory in the Tokyo area measured more than fifteen feet wide and almost ten feet deep. (NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE STUDIES)
The attack led by pilot Travis Hoover, in the second bomber to leave the Hornet, destroyed this Tokyo-area home, killing one person. (NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE STUDIES)
Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, pictured here with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, struggled with his disdain for the Chinese leader. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Local Chinese survey the wreckage of Doolittle’s B-25 after the raid on Japan. (NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE U.S. AIR FORCE)
Locals carry some of the raiders in sedan chairs, one of the many forms of native transportation the airmen depended on in China, including rickshaws and miniature ponies. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Chinese soldiers escorting the crew of the fifteenth bomber, including, from left, Herb Macia, Jack Sims, Jacob Eierman, and Jack Hilger. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Pilot Ted Lawson was badly injured in the crash of the Ruptured Duck in the surf along the Chinese coast, leading to the amputation of his left leg by mission doctor Thomas White. (AIR FORCE HISTORICAL RESEARCH AGENCY)
Jimmy Doolittle and his second-in-command, Major Jack Hilger, listen to Madame Chiang Kai-shek after she presented them with medals in Chungking following the raid on Japan. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
President Franklin Roosevelt presents Jimmy Doolittle with the Medal of Honor at the White House on May 19, 1942, as Lieutenant General Henry Arnold, Joe Doolittle, and General George Marshall watch. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Blindfolded by his captors, pilot Bobby Hite is led from a Japanese transport plane. He would spend forty months in captivity. (U.S. AIR FORCE MUSEUM)
Missionary priests and Sisters of Charity ford a stream in their flight from the Japanese following the Doolittle raid. (DEPAUL UNIVERSITY)
The Japanese reduced the town of Ying-tan to little more than rubble in the wake of the Doolittle raid. (DEPAUL UNIVERSITY)
Warden of Kiangwan Military Prison, Sotojiro Tatsuda, bows to Chase Nielsen during the war crimes trials in Shanghai in 1946 for those accused of executing some of the Doolittle raiders. (NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE U.S. AIR FORCE)
INDEX
Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.
Adams, Frederick, 10
African Americans, 25
not admitted to Marine Corps, 77
Aichi, 62
aircraft carriers, Japanese, U.S. destruction of, xiv
Air Force, Chinese, 167
airplane engines, 54–55
Air Service Command, 63
Akagi, 1, 2, 6, 190
Akers, Frank, 67, 68, 150
Akigumo, 2, 6
Alabama College Glee Club, 95
Alameda Naval Air Station, 39, 108, 115, 116, 119, 121–24
Aleutians, 307
Alexander, Edward, Chinese airfields prepared by, 166–69
Algeria, 475
Altick, Sherman, 367
American Red Cross, 77, 407
American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers), 102, 328, 344
Angsing, 383
anthrax, xiv, 385, 386, 387
Arcadia Conference, 28
Arisue, Colonel, 403
Arizona, 24
Army, Imperial:
planes of, 12
size of, 12
Army, U.S.:
Western Defense Force of, 76
Army Air Forces, U.S., shortages faced by, 27, 35, 54
Army Clothing Depot, 145
Arndt, Ralph, 236
Arnold, Henry H. “Hap,” 112, 165, 276, 323, 330
B-25s ordered for raid by, 66
background of, 32–33
congratulatory message on raid from, 333–34
debriefed on raid by Doolittle, 357
Doolittle given top priority by, 58
Doolittle grounded by, 45, 53
Doolittle hired by, 56–57
Doolittle ordered to meet Halsey by, 115
and Doolittle raid plan, 62, 105, 106–7, 108
and Doolittle’s blind flight, 53
and Doolittle’s desire to lead mission, 97
Doolittle’s warning on Germany’s military preparations to, 55–56
executions and, 418
farewell note to Doolittle from, 127
FDR notified about raid by, 321
FDR’s dispute with, 33
fuel for raid moved by, 107–8
letters to families of dead raiders sent by, 457
Marshall and Doolittle’s meeting with, 357–59
medals given to raiders by, 368
at meeting on U.S. entry into World War II, 26, 34
and outcome of raid, 317
and plan to bomb Tokyo, 28, 32, 34–37, 38, 318
Stilwell briefed on raid by, 106–7, 167
on success of raid, 321–22
worried about delay of raid, 169
Asahi Electrical Manufacturing Corporation, 199, 309
Associated Press, 14, 18, 319, 324, 330, 458
Atago, 190
Atlantic Monthly, 145
atom bombs, 449–50
Australia, 27, 75, 133, 136, 151
Avenger, 96,
224–26
Awata Maru, 237
B-18, 69
B-23s, 32, 36
B-25s, 32, 36, 288
California mechanics and, 112–14
cameras on, 61–62
carburetors on, 93–94, 113, 116
cost of, 59
crew requirements for, 59
design of, 59
development of, 58–59
engines of, 59
fuel capacity of, 61
meager armament of, 92
modified for raid, 58, 59–62, 92–94, 97, 111–12, 116, 177
names given to, 96
organizing crews for, 68–74
payload of, 59, 148, 160, 165, 184
Saylor’s repairs to, 153–54
size of, 101
weight of, 90, 95
wingspan of, 67
B-26 Marauder, 59
B-29 Superfortress, 59, 448–49
Backus, Edward, Chinese airfields prepared by, 166–69
bacteriological warfare, 386–89
Bailey, Forest, 39–40
Bailey, Jason, 466
Meder’s remains recovered by, 466–67
Bain, Edwin, 93, 150
in bombing raid, 227, 228–29
death of, 475
Balch, 157, 159
Barr, George, 345, 463
and Bat out of Hell, 183
China landing of, 265, 266
death of, 478
healing of, 478
illness of, 450, 455, 457–58, 459–62
mental breakdown of, 459–61
in move west, 110
in prison, 299, 347, 349, 400, 438, 439, 443, 444, 445, 450, 455, 460
recovery of, 463
sentence of, 404
as witness at international tribunal, 468
Bashi Strait, 190
Bataan Peninsula, 76, 152–53, 192, 324
Bates, James, 91, 116–17
Bat out of Hell, 96, 182–83, 185, 232–33, 265–69, 297, 307, 308, 395, 407
Baumeister, Karl, 71, 74
Bay Bridge, 32
Beardall, John, 16
Belgium, 10
Benham, 159
Benicia Arsenal, 112
Bereswill, Louis, 375
beriberi, 450
Bernstein, George, 179
Bettis, Cyrus, 48
Biddle, Francis, 21
on internment camps for Japanese Americans, 76–77
Birch, Bill, 163–64, 244, 333
in bombing raid, 222
training of, 73
Birch, John, 276–77
Bissell, Clayton, 168, 329, 330, 332, 334, 336
Bissell, Wayne, 218
Bither, Waldo, 223, 271
Bitter, Bruno, 210
Bland, W. H. P., 18
Blanton, Thad, 166, 224
blind flight, 52–53
Bloch, Claude, 13
Bogart, Larry, 121, 166
Bonin Islands, 190
Bordeaux Maru, 134
Boso Peninsula, 201, 204, 219, 308
Boston Globe, 317, 324, 449
Bourgeois, Robert, 70, 130, 155–56, 162, 245, 479
in bombing raid, 224–26
Bower, Bill, 70, 90, 123, 372
in bombing raid, 221, 223–24
in China, 328, 331, 333
departure on raid of, 128
Doolittle as hero of, 88
at launch, 182
made engineering officer, 88
Boyo Moyo, 82
Bradley, Follett, 421–22
Braemer, Fred, 179, 246, 270
bombing by, 197
in flight to Tokyo, 195, 196
wife’s inquiry about, 365
Brereton, Lewis, 102, 323
Bridge House, 395–400, 401, 438
Brown, Prentiss, 55
Browning, Miles, 100, 115
Browning, Patsy, 373
Buchanan, Jean, 371
Buckingham Palace, 148
Bungey, William, 396
Burchett, Wilfred, 388
Burma, Japanese assault on, 107
Burma Road, 107, 151
C-63, 36
California, 24
Campbell, Clayton, 224, 326
Campbell, Robert, 236
Carpenter, Edmund, 451
Carter, Amon, 34
Casey, Robert, 159–60, 161, 181, 183
Central Nippon Army, 310
Ceylon, 133
Charlie (Jai Foo Chang), 255, 292–93, 371
Cheek, Tom, 160
Chekiang Province, China, 275, 375, 387, 389
Chemical Warfare Services, 62
Chennault, Claire, 28, 63, 328
on Japanese drive through China, 383, 389–90
on secrecy of raid, 476
Chen Shenyan, 285, 296, 338, 341, 342–43
Chesapeake (floating lighthouse), 66
Chiang Kai-shek, 75, 102, 269
airfield use granted to raiders by, 169–70
China’s strategic value realized by, 104–5
Luce’s admiration for, 103–4
raiders invited to lunch by, 331–33
Stilwell’s disgust with, 103, 105, 389
Chiang Kai-shek, Madame, 104, 331, 332–33, 334
Chicago Daily News, 173, 239
Chicago Daily Tribune, 74–75, 324, 360–61, 373
Chicago Sun, 24
China, 75, 81, 139, 144, 191
airfields of, 31
bombers turned over to, 112
Japanese atrocities in, xiv, 105–6, 277, 376, 381, 384, 390, 482, 397, 520n
Japanese desire to wipe out airfields in, 375–80
Japanese torture of those who helped raiders in, 384–90
as landing spot for Doolittle raid, xiii, 31, 36, 58, 63–64, 105–6, 108, 115, 129, 146, 150, 166–70, 204, 242, 244, 308
preparations for raiders in, 102–8
strategic value of, 104–5
U.S. aid to, 28
U.S. bombers in, 35
U.S. search for prisoners of war in, 451–52
U.S. use of airfields in, 27
China Relief, 284
China Weekly Review, 397
Chita Wan, 226
Chkalov, Russia, 429–37
Chokyu Maru, 237
cholera, xiv, 385, 387, 389
Choshi, Japan, 223–24
Chuchow, China, 63, 107, 108, 167, 169, 342, 376
Japanese raids against, 327, 385, 389
Chugai Shogyo, 312
Ch’u Hsien, 389
Chungking, China, 63, 329–31, 333, 457, 458
Church Committee on China Relief, 385
Churchill, Winston:
Doolittle raid and, 172
FDR’s message on raid to, 321
future of war as concern of, 151–52
and Pearl Harbor announcement, 17–18
speech style of, 19
on Time, 104
Washington trip of, 26–27
Cimarron, 125, 128, 131, 160, 162
Civil War, U.S., 21
Clapper, Raymond, 410
Clark, D. Worth, 318
Clark, John, 111, 117–18
Cleveland, Grover, 13
Cleveland Athletic Club, 374
Cleveland Press, 419
Clever, Bob, 252, 253, 337
death of, 475
injury of, 253, 282–83, 285
in landing after raid, 282–83, 284
in launch, 177
coal, 80
Cole, Richard, 95, 125, 155, 157, 245, 246, 247, 479–80
bombing by, 199
brought to Chinese military, 272–74
in flight to Tokyo, 184, 195
at launch, 181
letters to parents by, 334–35
medals awarded to, 363–64
Collier’s, 77
Colorado, 125
Columbia Army Air Base, 69, 70–71
Communication Ministry, 309
Congress, U.S., 317–18
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Connally, Tom, 22
Connecticut, 165
Coolidge, 143
Cooper, Merian, 369
rescue mission and, 335–36
Coral Sea, 341, 415
Corregidor, 76, 152–53, 192, 339
Cromley, Ray, 144
Crouch, Horace, 129, 219, 220
Crow Indians, 25
Cunningham, Winfield Scott, 75, 455
Currie, Laughlin, 104
Cushing, 125
Cyclops (Japanese guard), 443
Daily News, 361
Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics, 51
Davenport, Dean, 123, 244, 251–52
in battle with Japanese vessel, 186–87
in bombing raid, 208
injury of, 253, 254, 285
in landing after raid, 280, 283
medal awarded to, 369
Davis, Dwight, 49
Davis, Elmer, 414
DC-2, 35–36
DC-3, 35–36
Death March, 153
DeMille, Cecil B., 45
Denmark, 10
DeShazer, Jacob, 110, 243
and Bat out of Hell damage, 186
in battle with Nitto Maru No. 23, 175
in bombing raid, 232–33
China landing of, 265–69
in evacuation to China, 457
fears of, 157
interviewed in press, 458
at launch, 178, 182–83
missionary work of, 477–78
in prison, 297–98, 299, 347–48, 351, 398, 401, 438–39, 440–43, 444, 445, 446–47, 448, 450, 455, 456, 460
recovery of, 463
report on imprisonment by, 457
in return to U.S., 458–59
sentence of, 404
torture of, 298
training of, 72
as witness at international tribunal, 468
Detroit, Mich., 80
DeWitt, John, 76
Dickson, W. N., 391
Diet, Japanese, 143, 147, 218
Dieter, Bill, 363
in bombing raid, 206
death of, 278, 457
grave of, 465
injuries of, 465
Nielsen’s letter to mother of, 465
Dodson, Oscar, 66–67
Doolittle, Jimmy:
airplane acrobatics of, 36, 44–47, 51, 53–54
airplane racing by, 48–49, 53
ankle injury of, 49–51
Army joined by, 41–42
Arnold’s and Marshall’s meeting with, 357–59
Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor Page 79
