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When we get to Chunking, I’m going to give you all
a party that you won’t forget,” was Lt. Colonel James
Doolittle’s promise to the 16 B-25 crews aboard the USS
Hornet a few days before their historic air raid on Japan. By
late afternoon on April 18th, 1942 the relative safety of the
China coast was all that Lt. Donald G. Smith’s crew had
on their minds. The 15th aircraft (# 40-2267) to leave the carrier’s
deck had bombed its targets in Kobe, Japan but the crewmen knew
they’d never make their designated landing strip on the
Chinese mainland. The weather had become increasingly worse and
visibility had dropped to zero. Lt. Smith was forced to ditch
his bomber off an island on the Chinese Coast near Sangchow.
All of Aircraft 15’s crew would eventually make their
way to Chunking but sixteen of the other Doolittle’s Raiders
did not. Doolittle himself would rise to the rank of full General.
It is the stuff of aviator legend that when the last Raider makes
his final flight westward into the day’s fading light he
will be greeted by his fellow Raiders and the General, and they
will have a party never to be forgotten.
Signed by eight of the Doolittle raiders.
Lt. Colonel Richard E. Cole - Co-Pilot 1st Aircraft
David J. Thatcher - Engineer Gunner 7th Aircraft
Thomas Griffin - Navigator 9th Aircraft
MSgt. Edwin Horton, Jr. - Gunner 10th Aircraft
Colonel William Bowers - Pilot 12th Aircraft
Lt. Colonel Edward Saylor - Engineer Gunner 15th Aircraft
Maj. Gen. David M Jones - Pilot 5th Aircraft
Charles J. Ozuk Jr - Navigator 3rd Aircraft |