In Doolittle's Tokyo Raiders (1964), Glines provided the first
detailed account of the bold air strike against Japanese cities
mounted by carrier-based Army bombers less than five months after
the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Two years later, the author
published Four Came Home, the story of the eight fliers under
Doolittle's command who were captured by the Japanese.
Subsequently, the former Air Force officer obtained additional
information from eyewitnesses on both sides, which he has included
in this gripping record of a mission that boosted American morale
during a dark hour and "scored direct hits on the Japanese psyche"
at a time when imperial forces had their foes in retreat throughout
the Pacific theater. Glines offers a more narrowly focused recap of
the operation than Duane Schultz, whose identically titled book is
reviewed below. Having interviewed most of the surviving
participants, he concentrates on individual experiences before,
during, and after the assault. His approach highlights the courage
of the young airmen without in any way scanting big-picture
perspectives that confirmed the significance of their sacrifices.
By any standard, the Doolittle raid (which originated with a
submariner's suggestion) was an epic of intrepidity. On April 18,
1942, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle led a squadron of 16 B-25 Mitchell
bombers from the deck of the Hornet in waters about 650 miles east
of Japan's home islands against targets in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka,
Kobe, and Nagoya. Following their low-level bombing runs, 15 of the
volunteer crews flew through stormy skies to occupied China, where
they bailed out or crash-landed; one aircraft wound up in Russia,
where its five-man crew was detained for over a year. All told, 64
fliers - including Doolittle (aided by missionary John Birch) -
made it home within weeks or months of the raid. Their escape,
however, cost thousands of Chinese civilians their lives at the
hands of vengeful Japanese. In the meantime, a triumphant FDR was
telling reporters with winks and nods that the raiders had taken
off from Shangi-La (the Tibetan retreat in James Hilton's Lost
Horizon). An altogether splendid reprise of a glorious chapter in
American military history. The engrossing text includes 16 pages of
black-and-white photographs (not seen). (Kirkus Reviews)
It was the biggest gamble of World War II, but Lt. Co. "Jimmy"
Doolittle\s legendary bombing raid on Tokyo gave America the morale
boost it needed in the wake of Pearl Harbor. This is the full story
as told by the Doolittle Raiders\ official historian. Carroll
Glines is also the author of Attack on Yamamoto.
General
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