"The New Collosus" - Give me your tired, your poor... more
Statue of Liberty
"THE MELTING POT FIGHTS FOR AMERICA"
This week - The Doolittle raid
Bomber takng off from USS Hornet
The 'Doolittle Raid" April 1942
Flight c rew from one of Dollitle's bombers
In early 1942 President Roosevelt ordered a mission to bomb mainland Japan. Everybody said it couldn't be done. It was done on 18 April, 1942. The mission was led by LtCol James H. Doolittle, United States Army Air Forces.
It was a very bold mission. Nobody had ever flown a bomber off an aircraft carrier. LtCol Doolittle was in charge of the training. After showing his men that it could be done, he trained all 16 combat aircrews for the mission.
The mission was a go. The Doolittle raiders would move into position aboard the USS Hornet 400 miles from Tokyo, Japan and launch their B25 bombers. The USS Enterprise fighters would fly fighter cover.
Unfortunately, the carriers were seen by a couple of Japanese patrol boats. Even though the boats were sunk, they were able to radio the location of the USS Hornet. The Doolittle raiders had to launch 600 miles out. There was no guarantee that they would make it to the Chinese coast after the raid. They stripped all of their bombers of any guns for protection. They needed to be as light as possible to carry extra fuel.
They launched on 18 April, 1942 and delivered their bombs on target. Mostly in Tokyo. The physical damage was minimal. The psychological damage was enormous. The Japanese did not expect to be bombed by U. S. Forces. The Japanese had most American forces on the run in the Pacific. This was a big blow to their morale.
16 B25 bombers with a total of 80 men took off to start the mission. Three died during the raid. Eight were captured (four of these died in captivity, 3 being executed) One crew made it to the Soviet Union and they were held for almost an entire year. The rest survived and made it back to the U. S. to fight again. 13 Raiders would die by the time the war was over.
LtCol Doolittle was promoted to Brigadier General and awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his leadership during the Doolittle raid.
It would be another 26 months before U. S. Bombers would hit Japan again.
There are five remaining members of the Doolittle Raid.
You've heard of Betsy Ross and Molly Pritcher. Do you know the stories of the rest of the "Women of the Revolutionary War"?
"Proud were they by such to stand, In hammock fort, or glen; To load the sure old rifle, To run the leaden ball, To watch a battling husband's place, And fill it, should he fall."
DEBORAH SAMSON** In October of 1778 Deborah Samson of Plympton, Massachusetts disguised herself as a young man and presented herself to the American army as a willing volunteer to oppose the common enemy. She enlisted for the whole term of the war as Robert Shirtliffe and served in the company of Captain Nathan Thayer of Medway, Massachusetts. For three years she served in various duties and was wounded twice - the first time by a sword cut on the side of the head and four months later she was shot through the shoulder. Her sexual identity went undetected until she came down with a brain fever, then prevalent among the soldiers
Rachel and Grace Martin
There is the little known story of Rachel and Grace Martin who disguised themselves as men and assailed a British courier and his guards. They took his important dispatches, which they speedily forwarded to General Greene. Then they released the two officers who didn't even know that they were women.
Anna Warner
Then there is Anna Warner, wife of Captain Elijah Bailey, who earned the title of "The Heroine of Groton" because of her fearless efforts to aid the wounded on the occasion of the terrible massacre at Fort Griswald in Connecticut. Anna Bailey went from house to house collecting material for bandages for the soldiers. Incidentally she denied ever having used the coarse and profane expressions ever attributed to her.
Margaret Corbin
Margaret Corbin stepped up to the artillery during the attack on Fort Washington when her husband fell by her side and unhesitatingly took his place and performed his duties. In July of 1779 the Congress awarded her a pension for her heroism - and a suit of clothes.
LYDIA DARRAH
is mentioned in the first number of "The American Quarterly Review," as an amiable and heroic Quakeress of Philadelphia, who overheard the order read for the British troops to march out and attack Washington's army, then at White Marsh. She obtained a pass from Gen. Howe, for a visit to a mill for flour; and going safely through the British lines, leaving her bag at the mill, she hastened to the American lines, saw Col. Craig, and told him what she had overheard. By means of that information, the American army was saved; for the British found them prepared, and forbore to make the contemplated attack.
Many more stories of heroism and dedication to the "new" country - The United States of America.......
