Today, April 18 (April 19, Japan time), is the 70th anniversary of one of the most daring, dangerous and heroic aircraft raids in American history.
Nothing like it had ever been done before. But faced with an enemy that already had proved its ability to strike the U.S. homeland, 80 brave men volunteered for what had all the makings of a suicide mission, its main purposes to satisfy a burning desire for revenge, to boost morale in the war’s darkest days and to demonstrate that the nation’s resolve remained as strong as steel.
It was barely four months after Japan’s infamous attack on Pearl Harbor and it was America’s first military strike against the Japanese homeland.
It was the “Doolittle Raid.”
If you don’t read anything else today, please read the story about this amazing military feat, but more importantly about the 80 brave men who took part in it — the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders –and about the five remaining survivors.
Image, courtesy: history.navy.mil
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.