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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 |