European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 9, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Book review the Doolittle raid full behind the scenes Story of attack on japanese Homeland the jacket design for Carroll Clines Book about the attack on Japan Early in world War ii. By Mike Genalo new York Bureau Tell Jimmy to get on his  with that coded transmission of seven words the United states set in motion a world War ii operation that boosted the morale of americans and put Japan on notice that it was not invincible. In the Doolittle raid by Carroll v. Glines we get the full behind the scenes Story of that daring operation. Glines a former air Force colonel and combat Pilot interviewed Many participants to give us an auth nut accounting seen through their eyes Orten related in their words. It was to be a one Way flight the first and last time a combat Mission involving land based bombers flying from a Carrier deck was undertaken. The operation was fraught with danger from the Start. No one was sure a modified b-25 actually could take off from a Carrier even if the task Force could escape detection and get close enough to the japanese islands to launch them. If Japan attacked the task Force the . Pacific Fleet could be crippled if the ships were attacked Doolittle s planes would have to be pushed overboard to make room to bring the Carrier s fighters topside for launch. We follow the operation from its inception fuelled by president Franklin d. Roosevelt s determination to strike the japanese Homeland at the earliest possible moment. It. Col. James Jimmy Doolittle assembles a Force of 80 unique individuals and trains them to Fly  be never had to Fly before. Men from All Over the United states were thrown together bound by one common thread their belief in the Boss. A Pilot summed it up i should have started worrying when we got the big picture but i had full Confidence in the Boss. He had that Knack of giving everyone Confidence in their own abilities and that we could All perform As he wanted us to. We were sure we d All Complete the Mission As  the raid and All the planning that went into it were classic examples of the courage and ingenuity of . Airmen. For instance Doolittle s team modified the 16 b-25s for a task they were not designed to perform. We called them flying prostitutes " said James Hatton a Crew chief who maintained them because they had no visible Means of support. Their wings were almost too Short to support  they had to remove gun turrets to lighten the planes so they painted Broomsticks Black and placed two of them in each Tail Section to deceive enemy pilots. Since it was to be a Low level attack the costly Norden bomb sight was not applicable so they designed their own Mark Twain bomb sight two pieces of aluminium that Cost about 20 cents to assemble in the base shop. After All the training the tense Days at sea and the eventual launch from the Carrier the actual raid on Japan on april 18,1942, was in some ways Anticlimactic. When we arrived Over the coastline said staff sgt. William l Birch it reminded us of Southern California. People on the ground waved at  it. Thomas c. Griffin agreed i thought it was much too Beautiful a Day to be flying on a Mission of destruction such As  while not in itself a severe blow against Japan s War machine the raid did boost the morale of the people Back Home. Newspapers in the United states put out War  a los Angeles times headline read Doolittle did  in Alaska the Nome Nuggett where Doolittle once worked As a delivery boy declared Nome town boy makes Good the effect on the japanese was just the opposite. Ramon m. Lavelle a commercial attache at the Argentine embassy in Tokyo described the reaction the results of the Doolittle raid Are still evident in James h. Doolittle As a brigadier general in 1942. Japan. They Are stamped into the daily habits of the japanese people. Where before they imagined themselves Safe from Aerial aggression they now search the skies each morning and each night. Fearlessness has turned to  the raid was completed but physically the most trying times for the Crew members were still ahead. They had to face the problems of flying with Little fuel and in bad weather to reach the chinese Mainland. All Hope of reaching our Airfield destination was now lost because of the storm the rough terrain and Lack of Contact said it. Thomas Griffin. The men had to bail out Over a darkened landscape not knowing whether they were coming Down in japanese occupied territory or a Friendly chinese Village. Griffin observed jumping at night and in a storm is an experience one will never forget. There were times during the descent from 10,000 feet when i thought i had missed the  though at first distrustful the chinese after having been reassured that the men were americans were ready to help. It. Richard Knoblock called China the land of the perpetual  i Don t believe i Ever heard a chinese say no All the time i was in China Knoblock said. As a result of their kindness to the fliers the chinese people suffered far More death and destruction than had been inflicted upon Japan in the raid. Japanese troops unleashed a wave of reprisals against the coastal areas of China where Many of the fliers had landed. Entire villages were wiped out. China s Leader Chiang Kai Shek sent a bitter Cable to Washington japanese troops slaughtered every Man woman and child in those areas let me repeat these japanese troops slaughtered every Man woman and child in those areas reproducing on a wholesale scale the horrors which the world had seen at Lidice but about which people have been uninformed in these  miraculously the Cost in casualties to the raiders themselves was minimal. Of the 80 pilots and Crew members five were forced to land in Vladivostok and were interned by the soviets they later escaped to Iran. Two men were killed in forced landings on the China coast. Eight were captured by the japanese three of them were executed and one died from Lack of medical care. All other raiders returned to Allied lines safely and each was awarded the distinguished flying Cross. Most of them remained on Active duty and several died on subsequent missions. On May 19,1942, Brig. Gen. Doolittle he had been promoted two ranks skipping Over colonel was awarded the medal of Honor. The Doolittle raid is not available in stars and stripes bookstores. It can of ordered $17.95 hardcover from the publisher Orion books a division of Crown publishers inc., at 225 Park ave. South new York new York 10003. 8 stripes Magazine february 9, 1989