Royce’s 5th Air Force B-25C Mitchell takes off from the
Del Monte staging field on the island of Mindanao on Sunday 12
April 1942, almost a week before the Doolittle raid, en-route
to hit the harbor and shipping targets at Cebu. In the
three days of Royce’s raids, the Mitchells flew over twenty
sorties, sinking and seriously damaging three Japanese transport
ships, and shooting down three enemy fighters. In a triumph of
surprise aerial strikes, all seven B-25s and their crews returned
safely to base. Though somewhat eclipsed by the publicity following
Doolittles attack on Tokyo, the Royce raids were none-the-less
courageous and inflicted extensive physical damage on the enemy.
Signed by Senior Master Sergeant Vernon Main, one of only
two surviving veterans of the Royce mission. |