Robert G . Emmens Robert G . Emmens ( July 22 , 1914 - April 2 , 1992 ) was a Doolittle Raid er and a career United States Air Force officer . Biography . Emmens graduated from Medford High School , Medford , Oregon in 1931 . He then attended University of Oregon , 1931 - 1934 . Emmens entered the United States Army Air Corps on February 23 , 1937 at Vancouver Barracks , Washington . Graduated from Flying Training School with a rating of pilot , February , 1938 . Assigned to 17th Bomb Group at March Field , California . As a first lieutenant , Emmens joined the Tokyo mission just before the mission . he was a co - pilot on one of the 16 B - 25 Mitchell bombers under the command of Colonel James H . Doolittle that were left the carrier USS Hornet ( CV - 8 ) to carry out the Tokyo raid on April 18 , 1942 . Emmens B - 25 was Serial 40 - 2242 and was Takeoff # 8 . All of those 16 crews except Lieutenant Emmens ' s either crashed on the China coast or bailed out . His B - 25 was consuming fuel at a much higher rate than planned on the mission , possibly due to incorrect engine carburetor settings . As a result , after attacking the target successfully in Japan , the plane turned north and touched down in a large field 40 miles north of Vladivostok in the Soviet Union . Doolittle had specifically told the Raiders not to fly to Russia . The Soviet Union , which was not then at war with Japan , held the crewmen captive for 13 months . Colonel Emmens later wrote a book about his experience as a captive , " Guests of the Kremlin . " After landing in Vladivostok , Emmens wrote that the Soviets held its five crewmen in several locations in the Soviet Union . Limited to the same diet as the besieged Soviet people , mostly black bread and cabbage , the five crew members suffered malnutrition , dysentery and other medical problems . Rather than wait until the end of the war under deplorable conditions , the crew of resolved to escape . While held in Ashkhabad , near the Persia n border - thousands of miles from Vladivostok - they found a sympathetic Soviet officer . The man introduced them to an Afghani smuggler who supplied the officers with better food and other black market items . Crewmen paid the smuggler $ 250 - won in a poker game the night before the mission by the pilot , Ski York - to lead them to a British embassy in Iran . The five , with the help of British diplomats in Mashhad , made their way to India and got a flight to the United States . The B - 25 aircraft was kept by the Soviets , and was scrapped in 1950s . After his return to the United States , Emmens attended and graduated from the Army Command and Staff School , Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . Before retiring in 1965 he served in Europe and in Japan on Intelligence assignments . In June 1955 Colonel Emmens was assigned to supervise the construction efforts at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base , South Carolina , assuming the role of Liaison Officer with both Ninth Air Force and HQ , Tactical Air Command . During his supervision , construction was performed at a rapid pace . He later served as the commander of the 342d Fighter Day Wing , the first host unit at Myrtle Beach AFB , and later as vice - commander of the 354th Fighter - Day Wing , which replaced the 342d FDW as the base ' s permanent host unit . Colonel Emmens decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross , and Chinese Army , Navy , Air Corps Medal , Class A , 1st Grade , and the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure . After his retirement , Robert Emmens returned to Medford , Oregon , his hometown , and worked as a stockbroker and in real estate . Colonel Emmens is interred at the I . O . O . F . Eastwood Cemetery in Medford and is a stop along the popular free public tour of the historic site which is managed by the City of Medford Parks and Recreation Department .