A great article about a great story - thanks muchly for this. I actually have a distant connection to this raid - the Bride's late former father-in-law, William A. Hood Jr. was an ordnance officer on the Hornet and supervised loading the bombs onto the Doolittle raid B-25s. I spoke to Dick Cole a few years ago before he died, and he reme…
A great article about a great story - thanks muchly for this. I actually have a distant connection to this raid - the Bride's late former father-in-law, William A. Hood Jr. was an ordnance officer on the Hornet and supervised loading the bombs onto the Doolittle raid B-25s. I spoke to Dick Cole a few years ago before he died, and he remembered Bill Hood. Col. Cole was still quite sharp when I talked with him. He autographed a poster of the B-25B used on the mission, and the Bride;s ex still has it hanging in his home. One would think that the US bombing Japan only months after the attack on Pearl Harbor might have given some of the Japanese leadership pause in considering their chances of victory.
The Tokyo raid did in fact "give pause," mostly among the Navy, the less-xenophobic of the two services. Nagumo, who was never an "enthusiast," went along with commanding Kido Butai for the Midway operation on Yamamoto's assurance that this would be the operation that would make the US negotiate peace.
I should mention that (later Capt.) Bill Hood served on two carriers early in WW2 - the Lexington and the Hornet, both shot out from under him. Presumably he found one that stayed afloat.....
A great article about a great story - thanks muchly for this. I actually have a distant connection to this raid - the Bride's late former father-in-law, William A. Hood Jr. was an ordnance officer on the Hornet and supervised loading the bombs onto the Doolittle raid B-25s. I spoke to Dick Cole a few years ago before he died, and he remembered Bill Hood. Col. Cole was still quite sharp when I talked with him. He autographed a poster of the B-25B used on the mission, and the Bride;s ex still has it hanging in his home. One would think that the US bombing Japan only months after the attack on Pearl Harbor might have given some of the Japanese leadership pause in considering their chances of victory.
The Tokyo raid did in fact "give pause," mostly among the Navy, the less-xenophobic of the two services. Nagumo, who was never an "enthusiast," went along with commanding Kido Butai for the Midway operation on Yamamoto's assurance that this would be the operation that would make the US negotiate peace.
I should mention that (later Capt.) Bill Hood served on two carriers early in WW2 - the Lexington and the Hornet, both shot out from under him. Presumably he found one that stayed afloat.....