One final toast: RAF Mildenhall honors remaining Doolittle Raiders on historic achievement

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Stacia Zachary
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  In April 1942, 80 men known as the Doolittle Raiders took part in a daring mission to strike the Japanese homeland. Though things didn't go exactly as planned, the raid has been considered a great success for the United States.

One of the 55th Wing's units, the 95th Reconnaissance Squadron at RAF Mildenhall, England, has a very special connection to the Doolittle Raiders - six of the 16 crews that took part in the strike were from the squadron's legacy unit, the 95th Bomb Squadron.

In honor of their sacrifices, Team Mildenhall personnel gathered together Nov. 8, 2013, at the Tudor Bar in Middleton Hall and made one final toast to the heroism the Doolittle Raiders displayed during the April 18, 1942, raids of Tokyo.

"As we gather together for a final toast to the Doolittle Raiders, let us not forget what they were able to accomplish in the groundbreaking mission," said Capt. Bradley Maxon, 95th RS executive officer. "Their mission helped to inspire and motivate a demoralized nation ... giving them a chance to raise their heads in pride again. They, likewise, showed our enemy that they were also vulnerable to attack and the harrows of war. We are proud to be able to toast them one final time in our own way and to recognize our very own (legacy) crews ... the Raiders of Crew 3 to 8 are our brothers. There is great sorrow in this final ceremony. To them I ask that you raise your glasses in one final toast."

The mission was created out of necessity to answer the Pearl Harbor bombings the U.S. military sustained Dec. 7, 1941. In an immediate response to this act of war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a directive that efforts be made to directly attack Japan as soon as possible.

Many ideas were considered, but U.S. Navy Capt. Francis Low, the U.S. Navy's Assistant Chief of Staff for Anti-submarine Warfare, conceived a possible solution for striking the Japanese home islands: bomber aircraft launching from aircraft carriers. The inspiration for this idea came while Low was at Norfolk and he noticed several U.S. Army medium bombers taking off from a runway which featured the outline of an aircraft carrier deck, according to Kennedy Hickman, U.S. military and naval historian, in the article "World War II: Doolittle Raid."

The B-25B Mitchell bomber was selected for the mission, and 16 bombers were retrofitted to be lighter and carry enough fuel for 16 crews to fly 2,400 nautical miles while holding 2,000 pounds of bombs to drop on critical targets throughout Japan. The B-25Bs were transported to the Pacific Ocean on the USS Hornet, a naval aircraft carrier.

All 16 crews succeeded in their mission of dropping bombs, but due to an unexpected premature flight launch, the crews flew a greater distance than the aircraft were equipped for. All but one crew parachuted or crash-landed in China and Russia.

Japanese forces captured eight men of the downed crew and executed three of them. One of the others died in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, and the other four remained POWs until the end of the war, according to an essay on www.2worldwar2.com.

"We don't want to forget what the Doolittle Raiders accomplished. Doolittle and his visionary leadership, along with the dedication of his all-volunteer crew, came together and did the impossible," Maxon said. "Against all odds, they came together with a solid plan and executed the unimaginable. The effects of the success of their mission served as a turning point in the war for America."

There are only four Doolittle Raiders still alive today; all of them are in their nineties. Knowing they will not be around much longer, remaining Doolittle Raiders have decided to hold one final private reunion together Nov. 9 in Ohio. During this event, they plan to toast their fellow Raiders one last time.

"Their achievement was ingenuity at its finest," Maxon said. "That mission teaches the Airmen of today's Air Force that it's possible to accomplish that which everyone thinks is impossible. We may be asked to do something that, at first glance, appears impossible. But when you're willing to think outside-the-box, anything can be achieved. That's the lesson we all gain when we remember."

For more information, visit: http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123368299.

(Editor's Note: U.S. Army Air Corps Staff Sgt. David J. Thatcher, B-25B Mitchell bomber engineer and gunner, is the youngest of the four surviving Doolittle Raiders. He was part of Crew 7, one of the six crews from the 95th Bomb Squadron that volunteered to be part of the raid. Thatcher's crew was highlighted in the movie, "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo.")

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