War Stories II (19 page)

Surprisingly, the first news of the raid came from Radio Tokyo, carrying broadcasts by Japan's furious military leaders, promising revenge. An announcement from Washington, a few hours later, was vague and terse: “American planes might have participated in an attack upon the Japanese capital.” But by the following day, though details were still scant, newspaper headlines across the U.S. trumpeted the news: “Tokyo Bombed in Broad Daylight,” “U.S. Warplanes Rain Bombs on Jap Empire,” and “U.S. Bombs Hit Four Jap Cities.” Pressed by reporters to explain how the B-25s had managed to get all the way to Japan, FDR said that they had launched from “Shangri-La.”

But while Americans celebrated the feat, many of the participants were still suffering. Pilot Ted Lawson, whose plane had crashed into the sea, had a crushed leg, and by the time the flight surgeon, Thomas “Doc” White, found him, the leg was rotting from gangrene. Doc White figured that to save Lawson's life, the leg would have to go.

Operating in a nationalist Chinese jungle encampment, the surgeon gave Lawson a spinal injection with Novocain to numb the pain, then used a hacksaw to methodically cut through the fetid flesh and thick leg bone. Lawson remained conscious throughout the long procedure, and when it was over, he watched quietly as Doc sewed up the wound and then used a hypodermic syringe to take his own blood to transfuse the traumatized patient. As a nurse carried the sawed-off leg outside the tent to dispose of it, Lawson said, “Thanks, Doc.”

Back home, little was initially known about the fate of most of the airmen. General Hap Arnold had received a coded message from Doolittle on 21 April, relayed through the nationalist Chinese. But all that Doolittle was able to report at the time was that the mission to bomb Japan was accomplished
and that bad weather, not a shortage of fuel, might mean that all sixteen of the B-25s had been lost. He also informed Washington that five American fliers had survived.

By the time Doolittle arrived back in the United States, it was known that the Japanese had captured eleven of the airmen. What no one knew until much later was that they were all subjected to horrific torture and interrogation in an effort to discover how the attack could have taken place. Even after three of their number were executed by the Japanese, the Americans gave them only name, rank, and serial number.

All of the Doolittle Raiders were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for their heroism. FDR presented Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle with the Medal of Honor and promoted him to brigadier general, allowing him to bypass the rank of colonel.

Of the eighty men who went on the mission, three were killed while jumping from their planes after the raid. Eleven were captured, and the Japanese executed three of them on 15 October 1942. Another prisoner died of maltreatment by his captors, and four others were released when the war ended, following three and a half years of imprisonment.

Most of the Doolittle Raiders were reassigned after they returned to the United States and volunteered to fly combat missions elsewhere. Ten of them were killed in action, in North Africa, Europe, and Indochina, and four others were shot down in the European theater and captured by the Germans, who held them for the duration of the war.

At the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, a carefully protected display case holds eighty silver goblets, each engraved with the name of a Doolittle Raider. Every 18 April, the goblets are used at a reunion of the surviving Doolittle Raiders, in a private and emotional ceremony. They toast their comrades, living and dead, and reminisce. The goblets of those who have passed on since the last reunion are inverted inside the case. And one day soon, all the goblets will be upside down.

J
immy Doolittle's daring raid from the deck of the USS
Hornet
on 18 April 1942 did little damage to Japanese warmaking capability. But bombing the emperor's cities seriously alarmed military planners in Tokyo—and precipitated decisions they would soon regret.