A little late to post this. 70 years ago last week, April 18, 1942, to be exact. Just a little more than four months after the devastating sneak attack on Pearl Harbor we returned the favor with a surprise carrier-based attack on the Japanese home islands - something the Japanese emporor had promised his people would never happen.
Except this time, 16 unbelievably courageous American crews did something that had never happened before, and most said couldn't be done. They launched their B-25 Mitchell medium bombers from the deck of the USS Hornet without any possible hope of returning to or even landing in an American-controlled area.
The plan was to fly to several different targets in Japan, drop their bombload, and continue on to China where they were to land and turn their aircraft over to new Air Force units being formed there.
Unfortunately, the Navy task force was spotted by a Japanese fishing boat and the bombers were forced to launch 200 miles further away from Japan than originally planned. Only one aircraft actually landed after the raid - near Vladivostok in Russia. The others either ditched in the ocean close to China or crash-landed in China.
Eight crewmen were captured by the Japanese. Three were executed several months later, one died in a prisoner-of-war camp of malnutrition, and the remaining four were tortured, starved, and placed in solitary confinement until they were eventually rescued by the OSS in 1945.
The unbelievable courage of this relatively small group of men completely changed the conquest psychology of the Japanese and the course of the war.
May we never forget.
Except this time, 16 unbelievably courageous American crews did something that had never happened before, and most said couldn't be done. They launched their B-25 Mitchell medium bombers from the deck of the USS Hornet without any possible hope of returning to or even landing in an American-controlled area.
The plan was to fly to several different targets in Japan, drop their bombload, and continue on to China where they were to land and turn their aircraft over to new Air Force units being formed there.
Unfortunately, the Navy task force was spotted by a Japanese fishing boat and the bombers were forced to launch 200 miles further away from Japan than originally planned. Only one aircraft actually landed after the raid - near Vladivostok in Russia. The others either ditched in the ocean close to China or crash-landed in China.
Eight crewmen were captured by the Japanese. Three were executed several months later, one died in a prisoner-of-war camp of malnutrition, and the remaining four were tortured, starved, and placed in solitary confinement until they were eventually rescued by the OSS in 1945.
The unbelievable courage of this relatively small group of men completely changed the conquest psychology of the Japanese and the course of the war.
May we never forget.
