From: plains!umnstat.stat.umn.edu!rjg@uunet.UU.NET (Robert J. Granvin)
Newsgroups: sci.military,soc.history
Subject: Doolittle Reunion on CBS Sunday Morning (April 12)
Date: 8 Apr 92 23:51:23 GMT
Organization: School of Statistics, University of Minnesota


From plains!umnstat.stat.umn.edu!rjg@uunet.UU.NET (Robert J. Granvin)

The Doolittle Reunion which occurred in Red Wing Minnesota a little over
a week ago will be featured on Sunday Morning with Charles Kurault this
coming Sunday, April 12th.

Not one to be conscious on Sunday mornings :-), I've been told that this
is a 90 minute show airing at 8:00 a.m. (local, at least).


The Red Wing Reunion reunited crews from five of the sixteen B-25 Mitchell
bombers which took off from the deck of the carrier USS Hornet on April
18th, 1942.  The Raiders took off 200 miles early and in bad weather when
the task force was spotted by a trawler.  The trawler was sunk by naval
gunfire, but not before it was able to report the task force's position.

This presented the Raiders with a dilemma.  They were still 200 miles from
their launch point.  If they took off now, they might not have enough fuel
to make it to China.  In addition, they would be attacking Japan at a time
of day they didn't desire and would reach China after dark.  The only other
options available were to risk running into a fighter cover waiting for
them or scrub the mission.  Doolittle made the decision to go ahead with
the raid with an early launch.

When the Raiders reached Japan, they were surprised to discover that they
were unopposed.  Even warned of their proximity, the Japanese had no air
cover.  They learned later that they had arrived during the height of a
mock air raid drill.  Although their approach was spotted and tracked,
it was all believed to be a part of the drill.

The raid was not militarily significant.  However, it was a critically 
needed boost to U.S. and Allied morale who had done nothing but face
defeat after defeat.  It also shocked the Japanese who until now had been
told, and believed, that Japanese home soil was immune from foreign
attack.  From that day forward, until the end of the war, the Japanese
military was forced to hold back a percentage of their military forces
for homeland protection.  The raid changed the course of the war and 
likely the outcome of future battles.

After attacking five cities, the Raiders flew on to China.  A homing beacon
was to be activated in China, but the aircraft carrying it crashed leaving
the Raiders "blind" and heading inland in different directions.  In
addition, arriving at night meant they had no opportunity to find a safe
landing location.

The decision was made to bail out rather than attempt to land in unknown
and inhospitable terrain.  Nothing has been seen of the aircraft since
that day until Bryan Moon put together an expedition to search for the
aircraft.

While the ever-efficient Chinese literally used every bit of the wreckage
they could locate, the expedition was able to return with some armor
plating, an escape hatch, a few fittings and sundries and a wok made from
aircraft aluminum.  No hint of any of the aircraft exists today.

They also made contact with Chinese individuals who found and aided the
escape of the Doolittle Raiders.  For this, the Chinese people paid a
terrible price.  The incensed Japanese military killed over 25,000 Chinese
in retaliation and leveled entire villages.  Each aircraft crashed in a
different part of China, and some of the stories of the survivors are
harrowing (literally on the other side of a door being protected by a
doctor who saved their lives and kept the Japanese soldiers away from
their room, suffering physical abuse in the process) to humorous (puling
the parachute rip cord and watching a flashlight turn itself on and fall
to Earth for "what seemed like forever" along with the marketable part
of every chocolate bar he could stuff in his flight suit (the upwards jerk
of the parachute ejected every candy bar he had - leaving the wrappers
behind.)


During the Red Wing Reunion, members of five bombers (Bombers Number 1 
(Doolittle's own), 3, 7, 11 and 15) were reunited for the first time in
50 years with those that rescued them.  Most never had any contact since
those few days and the Chinese people never expected to hear from the
Americans who literally dropped into their backyards again.  Of the
Chinese, none have ever been outside of China, and only one has ever
flown in an aircraft.

The Chinese made a number of appearances before and after the reunion,
visiting colleges and the Minnesota State Legislature, receiving standing
ovations each time.  After the reunion, they were invited by President
Bush to visit the White House.  Col. Hank Potter, Doolittle's Navigator,
returned to the Twin Cities with the rest of the Raiders but made a stop
to inspect our decade long B-25 restoration (*).


Reunited during the weekend were:

Bomber No. 1 (Doolittle as pilot)
Co-pilot Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole and Navigator Col. Henry A. Potter were
reunited with school teacher Zhu Xuesan from Shanghai.

Bomber No. 3
Navigator Cpt. Charles J. Ozuk Jr. was to be reunited with Mr. Liu
Fangchiao, a farmer from Liu Jai.  Health reasons prevented Mr. Ozuk's
appearance.  Rear Gunner Cpl. Leland Faktor never left Bomber No. 3 and
was killed on impact.  He was represented by his brother, Bud Faktor.

Bomber No. 7
Co-pilot Dean Davenport, Navigator Cpt. Charles L. McClure and Engineer/
Gunner Sgt. David J. Thatcher were reunited with Dr. Chen Shenyan from
Linhai.  Bomber No. 7 crash landed on the Chinese coast in Japanese
held territory.  The crew sustained injuries but were saved and protected
by the doctor.  Bomber No. 7 was piloted by Lt. Ted Lawson who went on
to write the famous book turned movie ``30 Seconds Over Tokyo.''  Lt.
Lawson unfortunately passed away in January.

Bomber No. 11
Navigator Col. Frank A. Kappeler was reunited with Postal Inspector Mr.
Zeng Jianpei from Jiaxing.  Col. Kappeler was driven to safety in his
postal truck and has maintained a correspondence with him since.  They
had never met since 1942.

Bomber No. 15
Co-pilot Maj. Griffith Williams and Engineer/Gunner Lt. Col. Edward Saylor
were reunited with Mrs. Zhao Xiaobao from Tan Toushan Island, a fisherman's
wife.  Bomber No. 15 crash landed on the Chinese coast.  The Chinese heard
the aircraft and blacked out all lights and evacuated.  (Un)fortunately,
the fisherman left one light on in a pig pen which attracted the downed
flight crew who spent the night there until discovered by Mrs. Xiaobao in
the morning and helped them evade Japanese patrols who had also heard the
aircraft.


The program developed by Bryan Moon honors General James H. Doolittle
who was unable to attend the reunion because of frail health but sent
his regards.  The program is also dedicated to the memory of the 
Expedition Photographer Arthur Gibson whose photographic work is
beyond description.  Arthur suffered a heart attack immediately following
the Expedition in September 1990 and died on January 29th, 1992 from a
subsequent heart attack.

The 1990 China Expedition members included Doolittle's Navigator, Col.
Henry "Hank" Potter, Heidi Olson, physical fitness instructor, Chinese
Consul Zhao who opened the press conference but did not join the
Expedition, artist Bryan Moon, Joyce Olson, Vice President of the Hadley
Companies and Doctor Tom Wier, retired Brigadier General from the Air
Force Reserve and Expedition doctor.

The program was made possible by the support of Northwest Airlines and
the cooperation of The People's Association for Friendship with Foreign
Countries, Zhejiang Province, China who were represented by Council
Member Mr. Huang Enbo and interpreter Mr. Li Wen.


(*) The Southern Minnesota Wing has been restoring a B-25J Mitchell 
bomber for the past decade.  A re-creation of ``Miss Mitchell,'' a B-25J
which served an illustrious career in Corsica and Italy in 1944 and 45,
she will make her maiden flight this month (the FAA hand delivered our
certificates :-).  Experimental flights will hopefully coincide with the
50th Anniversary of the Doolittle Raid.

-- 
Robert J. Granvin                                    Southern Minnesota Wing
rjg@umnstat.stat.umn.edu                               Confederate Air Force
Newsgroups: sci.military