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70 years ago tomorrow April 18 - Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_Raid
Doolittle Raid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Doolittle Raid
Part of World War II, Pacific War
A B-25 taking off from Hornet for the raid
Date 18 April 1942
Location Tokyo and other Japanese cities
Result
First attack on Japanese Home Islands
United States propaganda victory
No significant tactical or strategic victory
Belligerents
United States Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
James H. Doolittle N/A
Strength
16 B-25 Mitchells, 80 airmen (52 officers, 28 enlisted), 2 aircraft carriers, 4 cruisers, 8 destroyers Unknown number of troops and homeland defense
Casualties and losses
3 dead,
8 POWs (4 died in captivity: 3 executed, 1 by disease)
15 B-25s About 50 dead, 400 injured (including civilians)
[show] v t e
Pacific Campaigns
1940?1942
[show] v t e
Pacific Ocean theater
18 April 1942: Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle (second from left) and his crew pose in front of a B-25 on the deck of the USS Hornet {Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 1 (B-25 #40-2344, target Tokyo): 34th Bombardment Squadron, Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle, pilot; Lt. Richard E. Cole, copilot; Lt. Henry A. Potter, navigator; SSgt. Fred A. Braemer, bombardier; SSgt. Paul J. Leonard, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)}
The Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands (specifically Honshu) during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The raid was planned and led by then-Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAAF. Doolittle would later recount in his autobiography that the raid was intended to bolster American morale and to cause the Japanese to begin doubting their leadership:
The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable ... An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders. There was a second, and equally important, psychological reason for this attack ... Americans badly needed a morale boost.[1]
Sixteen U.S. Army Air Forces B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet deep in the Western Pacific Ocean. The plan called for them to bomb military targets in Japan, and to continue westward to land in China?landing a medium bomber on the Hornet was impossible. All the aircraft involved in the bombing were lost and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured?with three of the captured men executed by the Japanese Army in China. One of the B-25s landed in the Soviet Union at Vladivostok, where it was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year. Thirteen entire crews, and all but one crewman of a 14th, returned either to the United States or to American forces.[2][3]
The raid caused negligible material damage to Japan, but it succeeded in its goal of helping American morale, and casting doubt in Japan on the ability of the Japanese military leaders. It also caused Japan to withdraw its powerful aircraft carrier force from the Indian Ocean to defend their Home Islands, and the raid contributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's decision to attack Midway?an attack that turned into a decisive rout of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) by the U.S. Navy near Midway Island in the Central Pacific.
Contents [hide]
1 Origins
2 Training
3 Participating aircraft
4 Mission
5 Aftermath
5.1 Fate of the missing crewmen
5.2 Service of the returning crewmen
6 Impact
7 Postwar
7.1 Surviving airmen
7.2 Legacy
7.3 Doolittle Raiders exhibit
7.4 Doolittle Raiders re-creation
8 Popular culture
9 References
10 External links
[edit]Origins
The raid had its start in a desire by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, expressed to Joint Chiefs of Staff in a meeting at the White House on 21 December 1941, that Japan be bombed as soon as possible to boost public morale after the disaster at Pearl Harbor.[4]
The concept for the attack came from Navy Captain Francis Low, Assistant Chief of Staff for Anti-submarine Warfare, who reported to Admiral Ernest J. King on 10 January 1942 that he thought that twin-engine Army bombers could be successfully launched from an aircraft carrier after observing several at a naval airfield in Norfolk, Virginia, where the runway was painted with the outline of a carrier deck for landing practice.[5] It was subsequently planned and led by Doolittle, a famous civilian aviator and aeronautical engineer before the war.
Requirements for the aircraft for a cruising range of 2,400 nautical miles (4,400 km) with a 2,000-pound (910 kg) bomb load resulted in the selection of the North American B-25B Mitchell to carry out the mission. The B-26 Marauder, B-18 Bolo and B-23 Dragon were also considered,[6] but the B-26 had questionable takeoff characteristics from a carrier deck and the B-23's wingspan was nearly 50% greater than the B-25's, reducing the number that could be taken aboard a carrier and posing risks to the ship's island. The B-18, one of the final two types considered by Doolittle, was rejected for the same reason.[7]
The B-25 had yet to be tested in combat,[N 1][8] but subsequent tests with B-25s indicated they could fulfill the mission's requirements. Doolittle's first report on the plan suggested that the bombers might land in Vladivostok, shortening the flight by 600 nautical miles (1,000 km) on the basis of turning over the B-25s as Lend-Lease.[9] However, negotiations with the Soviet Union (which had signed a neutrality pact with Japan in April 1941) for permission were fruitless.[10]
[edit]Training
Lt. Col. Doolittle wires a Japanese medal to a bomb, for "return" to its originators.
When planning indicated that the B-25 was the aircraft best meeting all specifications of the mission, two were loaded aboard the aircraft carrier USS Hornet at Norfolk, Virginia, and subsequently flown off the deck without difficulty on 3 February 1942.[11] The raid was immediately approved and the 17th Bomb Group (Medium) chosen to provide the pool of crews from which volunteers would be recruited. The 17th BG had been the first group to receive B-25s, with all four of its squadrons equipped with the bomber by September 1941. The 17th not only was the first medium bomb group of the Army Air Corps, but in the spring of 1942 also had the most experienced B-25 crews. Its first assignment following the entry of the United States into the war was to the U.S. Eighth Air Force.[12]
The 17th BG, then flying antisubmarine patrols from Pendleton, Oregon, was immediately moved cross-country to Lexington County Army Air Base at Columbia, South Carolina, ostensibly to fly similar patrols off the East Coast of the United States but in actuality to prepare for the mission against Japan. The group officially transferred effective 9 February to Columbia, where its combat crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an "extremely hazardous" but unspecified mission. On 17 February the group was detached from the Eighth Air Force.
Initial planning called for 20 aircraft to fly the mission,[13] and 24 of the group's B-25B Mitchell bombers were diverted to the Mid-Continent Airlines modification center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Modifications included:
Removal of the lower gun turret
Installation of de-icers and anti-icers
Steel blast plates mounted on the fuselage around the upper turret
Removal of the liaison radio set (a weight impediment)
Installation of three additional fuel tanks and support mounts in the bomb bay, crawlway and lower turret area to increase fuel capacity from 646 to 1,141 U.S. gallons (538?950 imp gal; 2,445?4,319 L)
Mock gun barrels installed in the tail cone, and
Replacement of their Norden bombsight with a makeshift aiming sight, devised by pilot Capt. C. Ross Greening and called the "Mark Twain" the materials for the bombsight cost only 20 cents.[12]
Two bombers also had cameras mounted to record the results of bombing.[10] The 24 crews selected picked up the modified bombers in Minneapolis and flew them to Eglin Field, Florida, beginning 1 March 1942. There the crews received intensive training for three weeks in simulated carrier deck takeoffs, low-level and night flying, low-altitude bombing and over-water navigation, primarily out of Wagner Field, Auxiliary Field 1. Lieutenant Henry Miller, USN, from nearby Naval Air Station Pensacola supervised their takeoff training and accompanied the crews to the launch. For his efforts, Lt. Miller is considered an honorary member of the Raider group.[14] Lt. Col. Doolittle stated in his after-action report that an operational level of training was reached despite several days when flying was not possible because of rain and fog. One aircraft was heavily damaged in a takeoff accident and another scratched from the mission because of a nose wheel shimmy that could not be repaired quickly enough.[10]
On 25 March 1942, the remaining 22 B-25s took off from Eglin for McClellan Field, California. They arrived two days later at the Sacramento Air Depot for final modifications. A total of 16 B-25s were subsequently flown to NAS Alameda, California, on 31 March. Fifteen raiders would be the mission force and a 16th aircraft, by last-minute agreement with the Navy, would be squeezed onto the deck to be flown off shortly after departure from San Francisco to provide feedback to the Army pilots about takeoff characteristics. The 16th bomber was made part of the mission force instead.
........................................................................................
Tomorrow could be the last reunion.
Doolittle's Raid survivors' 70th reunion in Ohio
Tuesday April 17, 2012
CINCINNATI (AP) -- The jovial banter and storytelling will halt, and guests will be ushered out of the meeting room, the door shutting behind them.
Five men, all in their 90s, will come to military-erect attention. Before them will be a wooden display case with 80 silver goblets. On each, a name is engraved twice: to be read right-side-up -- for those still alive -- or to be read placed upside-down, in memory of the 75 now dead.
"To those who have gone," 96-year-old Lt. Col. Richard Cole will toast, raising his goblet high.
The other four surviving Doolittle's Raiders -- Maj. Thomas Griffin, Lt. Col. Robert Hite, Lt. Col. Edward Saylor and Master Sgt. David Thatcher -- will answer in unison: "To those who have gone."
The ceremony Wednesday will come 70 years to the day after the bombing raid over Tokyo led by Lt. Col. "Jimmy" Doolittle that helped change the course of World War II. Four days of celebration are planned April 17-20 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton, including a fly-in of B-25 bombers like they flew. Special guests include survivors or relatives of the USS Hornet aircraft carrier crew that launched them and of Chinese villagers who helped save them after the raid.
The toast ritual grew from early get-togethers led by Doolittle, who died in 1993.
"It is a very private moment," said Cole, a Dayton native who lives in Comfort, Texas. "You remember the ones who didn't make it,
Advertisement
you think about them, and you are sorry they aren't with us. And then the ones fortunate to still be living trade off stories."
The stories are many, their bond forged in a daring mission.
"I didn't expect to survive. We should have been shot down," said Saylor, 92, a Brusett, Mont., native who lives in Puyallup, Wash.
Pilots volunteered and trained in Florida for what they only knew was "extremely hazardous." Navigator Griffin, from Green Bay, Wis., got top-secret briefings with pilot David Jones in Washington, just five months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
"We needed to hit back," recalled Griffin, now 95 and living near Cincinnati.
Once at sea, the rest learned targets -- factories, plants, military facilities on mainland Japan. They knew the uncertainties: what if the Navy task force was attacked? What defenses would they face? And with B-25s unable to land on a carrier decks, could they reach friendly bases in China?
"We didn't know we were supposed to be afraid," summarized Saylor, 22 then.
The Raiders brushed aside Doolittle's assurances that anyone was free to withdraw.
"It was a mission in the war. We did what we were required to do," said Thatcher, of Missoula, Mont., age 90.
After encountering Japanese patrols, the raid launched ahead of plan, some 200 miles farther from shore for fuel-stretched bombers. Doolittle's plane took off first at 08:20 from a pitching carrier deck.
"It's the Charge of the Light Brigade," said historian Hugh Ambrose. "They know that a betting man would probably bet against them ... brave heroism in the face of an enemy that at that time was winning the war."
They flew low in radio silence, skimming seas and then treetops. Cole recalls the country song "Wabash Cannonball" running through his head. He tapped his foot in time until Doolittle shot him a questioning look.
They were greeted by anti-aircraft guns and puffs of black smoke. Flak shook planes.
"As we got there, there was no conversation, until the bombardier told Col. Doolittle that the initial bombing target was in sight," said Cole, who was in the lead plane. "At that point, Col. Doolittle said to open up the bomb bay doors."
The bombs dropped, "and we got the heck out of there."
The danger was just beginning. All 16 planes lacked enough fuel to reach bases and either crash-landed or ditched in dark, rough weather along China's coast south of Shanghai.
"The most scary time for me was standing in a plane at 9,000 feet, in the middle of a pretty bad storm, looking down into a black hole and ready to exit into the unknown," said Cole.
"I never learned how to swim," added a chuckling Saylor, who held onto a damaged raft. "I was raised on a cattle ranch out in Montana."
Thatcher was aboard the plane dubbed "The Ruptured Duck," which crash-landed into water. Pilot Ted Lawson's leg was badly broken, later amputated. They narrowly stayed ahead of Japanese searchers, who killed villagers suspected of helping the Americans.
"We had a lot of near-misses, when they raided places we had been the night before," said Griffin, now 95 and living near Cincinnati.
Eight Raiders were captured, and three executed. A fourth died in captivity. Three had died off China.
"The Chinese people were of immeasurable help to us," Cole reflected. "If it hadn't been for them, I wouldn't be alive today to tell you about this."
Although the Tokyo raid inflicted light damage compared to Pearl Harbor, it shook Japanese confidence and uplifted Americans, said Ambrose, author of "The Pacific."
"It was a symbolic act," he said. "It did wonders for the American people. It was just the sort of calling card that let people understand that ... yes, we're going to do it."
Surviving Raiders got new assignments. Ten more would die in the war.
The Raiders' postwar gatherings have become popular drawing cards for museums, air bases and other locales.
"Young people, parents and their grandparents are there to meet these gentlemen and hear their stories firsthand," Ambrose said. "It's a chance to experience living history ... It becomes a part of us."
Hite, 92, who survived Japanese captivity, had recent health issues, but the Odell, Texas, native and Nashville, Tenn., resident is expected to attend and join the toast.
"It's going to be special," said Griffin. "I can't help but think it's going to be our last big one."
Six years ago, there were still 16 survivors.
By plan, the last two Raiders living will someday make the final toast. They will sip from cognac vintage 1896 -- the year Doolittle was born.
...A SALUTE TO ALL THOSE INVOLVED.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_Raid
Doolittle Raid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Doolittle Raid
Part of World War II, Pacific War
A B-25 taking off from Hornet for the raid
Date 18 April 1942
Location Tokyo and other Japanese cities
Result
First attack on Japanese Home Islands
United States propaganda victory
No significant tactical or strategic victory
Belligerents
United States Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
James H. Doolittle N/A
Strength
16 B-25 Mitchells, 80 airmen (52 officers, 28 enlisted), 2 aircraft carriers, 4 cruisers, 8 destroyers Unknown number of troops and homeland defense
Casualties and losses
3 dead,
8 POWs (4 died in captivity: 3 executed, 1 by disease)
15 B-25s About 50 dead, 400 injured (including civilians)
[show] v t e
Pacific Campaigns
1940?1942
[show] v t e
Pacific Ocean theater
18 April 1942: Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle (second from left) and his crew pose in front of a B-25 on the deck of the USS Hornet {Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 1 (B-25 #40-2344, target Tokyo): 34th Bombardment Squadron, Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle, pilot; Lt. Richard E. Cole, copilot; Lt. Henry A. Potter, navigator; SSgt. Fred A. Braemer, bombardier; SSgt. Paul J. Leonard, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)}
The Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands (specifically Honshu) during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The raid was planned and led by then-Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAAF. Doolittle would later recount in his autobiography that the raid was intended to bolster American morale and to cause the Japanese to begin doubting their leadership:
The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable ... An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders. There was a second, and equally important, psychological reason for this attack ... Americans badly needed a morale boost.[1]
Sixteen U.S. Army Air Forces B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet deep in the Western Pacific Ocean. The plan called for them to bomb military targets in Japan, and to continue westward to land in China?landing a medium bomber on the Hornet was impossible. All the aircraft involved in the bombing were lost and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured?with three of the captured men executed by the Japanese Army in China. One of the B-25s landed in the Soviet Union at Vladivostok, where it was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year. Thirteen entire crews, and all but one crewman of a 14th, returned either to the United States or to American forces.[2][3]
The raid caused negligible material damage to Japan, but it succeeded in its goal of helping American morale, and casting doubt in Japan on the ability of the Japanese military leaders. It also caused Japan to withdraw its powerful aircraft carrier force from the Indian Ocean to defend their Home Islands, and the raid contributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's decision to attack Midway?an attack that turned into a decisive rout of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) by the U.S. Navy near Midway Island in the Central Pacific.
Contents [hide]
1 Origins
2 Training
3 Participating aircraft
4 Mission
5 Aftermath
5.1 Fate of the missing crewmen
5.2 Service of the returning crewmen
6 Impact
7 Postwar
7.1 Surviving airmen
7.2 Legacy
7.3 Doolittle Raiders exhibit
7.4 Doolittle Raiders re-creation
8 Popular culture
9 References
10 External links
[edit]Origins
The raid had its start in a desire by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, expressed to Joint Chiefs of Staff in a meeting at the White House on 21 December 1941, that Japan be bombed as soon as possible to boost public morale after the disaster at Pearl Harbor.[4]
The concept for the attack came from Navy Captain Francis Low, Assistant Chief of Staff for Anti-submarine Warfare, who reported to Admiral Ernest J. King on 10 January 1942 that he thought that twin-engine Army bombers could be successfully launched from an aircraft carrier after observing several at a naval airfield in Norfolk, Virginia, where the runway was painted with the outline of a carrier deck for landing practice.[5] It was subsequently planned and led by Doolittle, a famous civilian aviator and aeronautical engineer before the war.
Requirements for the aircraft for a cruising range of 2,400 nautical miles (4,400 km) with a 2,000-pound (910 kg) bomb load resulted in the selection of the North American B-25B Mitchell to carry out the mission. The B-26 Marauder, B-18 Bolo and B-23 Dragon were also considered,[6] but the B-26 had questionable takeoff characteristics from a carrier deck and the B-23's wingspan was nearly 50% greater than the B-25's, reducing the number that could be taken aboard a carrier and posing risks to the ship's island. The B-18, one of the final two types considered by Doolittle, was rejected for the same reason.[7]
The B-25 had yet to be tested in combat,[N 1][8] but subsequent tests with B-25s indicated they could fulfill the mission's requirements. Doolittle's first report on the plan suggested that the bombers might land in Vladivostok, shortening the flight by 600 nautical miles (1,000 km) on the basis of turning over the B-25s as Lend-Lease.[9] However, negotiations with the Soviet Union (which had signed a neutrality pact with Japan in April 1941) for permission were fruitless.[10]
[edit]Training
Lt. Col. Doolittle wires a Japanese medal to a bomb, for "return" to its originators.
When planning indicated that the B-25 was the aircraft best meeting all specifications of the mission, two were loaded aboard the aircraft carrier USS Hornet at Norfolk, Virginia, and subsequently flown off the deck without difficulty on 3 February 1942.[11] The raid was immediately approved and the 17th Bomb Group (Medium) chosen to provide the pool of crews from which volunteers would be recruited. The 17th BG had been the first group to receive B-25s, with all four of its squadrons equipped with the bomber by September 1941. The 17th not only was the first medium bomb group of the Army Air Corps, but in the spring of 1942 also had the most experienced B-25 crews. Its first assignment following the entry of the United States into the war was to the U.S. Eighth Air Force.[12]
The 17th BG, then flying antisubmarine patrols from Pendleton, Oregon, was immediately moved cross-country to Lexington County Army Air Base at Columbia, South Carolina, ostensibly to fly similar patrols off the East Coast of the United States but in actuality to prepare for the mission against Japan. The group officially transferred effective 9 February to Columbia, where its combat crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an "extremely hazardous" but unspecified mission. On 17 February the group was detached from the Eighth Air Force.
Initial planning called for 20 aircraft to fly the mission,[13] and 24 of the group's B-25B Mitchell bombers were diverted to the Mid-Continent Airlines modification center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Modifications included:
Removal of the lower gun turret
Installation of de-icers and anti-icers
Steel blast plates mounted on the fuselage around the upper turret
Removal of the liaison radio set (a weight impediment)
Installation of three additional fuel tanks and support mounts in the bomb bay, crawlway and lower turret area to increase fuel capacity from 646 to 1,141 U.S. gallons (538?950 imp gal; 2,445?4,319 L)
Mock gun barrels installed in the tail cone, and
Replacement of their Norden bombsight with a makeshift aiming sight, devised by pilot Capt. C. Ross Greening and called the "Mark Twain" the materials for the bombsight cost only 20 cents.[12]
Two bombers also had cameras mounted to record the results of bombing.[10] The 24 crews selected picked up the modified bombers in Minneapolis and flew them to Eglin Field, Florida, beginning 1 March 1942. There the crews received intensive training for three weeks in simulated carrier deck takeoffs, low-level and night flying, low-altitude bombing and over-water navigation, primarily out of Wagner Field, Auxiliary Field 1. Lieutenant Henry Miller, USN, from nearby Naval Air Station Pensacola supervised their takeoff training and accompanied the crews to the launch. For his efforts, Lt. Miller is considered an honorary member of the Raider group.[14] Lt. Col. Doolittle stated in his after-action report that an operational level of training was reached despite several days when flying was not possible because of rain and fog. One aircraft was heavily damaged in a takeoff accident and another scratched from the mission because of a nose wheel shimmy that could not be repaired quickly enough.[10]
On 25 March 1942, the remaining 22 B-25s took off from Eglin for McClellan Field, California. They arrived two days later at the Sacramento Air Depot for final modifications. A total of 16 B-25s were subsequently flown to NAS Alameda, California, on 31 March. Fifteen raiders would be the mission force and a 16th aircraft, by last-minute agreement with the Navy, would be squeezed onto the deck to be flown off shortly after departure from San Francisco to provide feedback to the Army pilots about takeoff characteristics. The 16th bomber was made part of the mission force instead.
........................................................................................
Tomorrow could be the last reunion.
Doolittle's Raid survivors' 70th reunion in Ohio
Tuesday April 17, 2012
CINCINNATI (AP) -- The jovial banter and storytelling will halt, and guests will be ushered out of the meeting room, the door shutting behind them.
Five men, all in their 90s, will come to military-erect attention. Before them will be a wooden display case with 80 silver goblets. On each, a name is engraved twice: to be read right-side-up -- for those still alive -- or to be read placed upside-down, in memory of the 75 now dead.
"To those who have gone," 96-year-old Lt. Col. Richard Cole will toast, raising his goblet high.
The other four surviving Doolittle's Raiders -- Maj. Thomas Griffin, Lt. Col. Robert Hite, Lt. Col. Edward Saylor and Master Sgt. David Thatcher -- will answer in unison: "To those who have gone."
The ceremony Wednesday will come 70 years to the day after the bombing raid over Tokyo led by Lt. Col. "Jimmy" Doolittle that helped change the course of World War II. Four days of celebration are planned April 17-20 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton, including a fly-in of B-25 bombers like they flew. Special guests include survivors or relatives of the USS Hornet aircraft carrier crew that launched them and of Chinese villagers who helped save them after the raid.
The toast ritual grew from early get-togethers led by Doolittle, who died in 1993.
"It is a very private moment," said Cole, a Dayton native who lives in Comfort, Texas. "You remember the ones who didn't make it,
Advertisement
you think about them, and you are sorry they aren't with us. And then the ones fortunate to still be living trade off stories."
The stories are many, their bond forged in a daring mission.
"I didn't expect to survive. We should have been shot down," said Saylor, 92, a Brusett, Mont., native who lives in Puyallup, Wash.
Pilots volunteered and trained in Florida for what they only knew was "extremely hazardous." Navigator Griffin, from Green Bay, Wis., got top-secret briefings with pilot David Jones in Washington, just five months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
"We needed to hit back," recalled Griffin, now 95 and living near Cincinnati.
Once at sea, the rest learned targets -- factories, plants, military facilities on mainland Japan. They knew the uncertainties: what if the Navy task force was attacked? What defenses would they face? And with B-25s unable to land on a carrier decks, could they reach friendly bases in China?
"We didn't know we were supposed to be afraid," summarized Saylor, 22 then.
The Raiders brushed aside Doolittle's assurances that anyone was free to withdraw.
"It was a mission in the war. We did what we were required to do," said Thatcher, of Missoula, Mont., age 90.
After encountering Japanese patrols, the raid launched ahead of plan, some 200 miles farther from shore for fuel-stretched bombers. Doolittle's plane took off first at 08:20 from a pitching carrier deck.
"It's the Charge of the Light Brigade," said historian Hugh Ambrose. "They know that a betting man would probably bet against them ... brave heroism in the face of an enemy that at that time was winning the war."
They flew low in radio silence, skimming seas and then treetops. Cole recalls the country song "Wabash Cannonball" running through his head. He tapped his foot in time until Doolittle shot him a questioning look.
They were greeted by anti-aircraft guns and puffs of black smoke. Flak shook planes.
"As we got there, there was no conversation, until the bombardier told Col. Doolittle that the initial bombing target was in sight," said Cole, who was in the lead plane. "At that point, Col. Doolittle said to open up the bomb bay doors."
The bombs dropped, "and we got the heck out of there."
The danger was just beginning. All 16 planes lacked enough fuel to reach bases and either crash-landed or ditched in dark, rough weather along China's coast south of Shanghai.
"The most scary time for me was standing in a plane at 9,000 feet, in the middle of a pretty bad storm, looking down into a black hole and ready to exit into the unknown," said Cole.
"I never learned how to swim," added a chuckling Saylor, who held onto a damaged raft. "I was raised on a cattle ranch out in Montana."
Thatcher was aboard the plane dubbed "The Ruptured Duck," which crash-landed into water. Pilot Ted Lawson's leg was badly broken, later amputated. They narrowly stayed ahead of Japanese searchers, who killed villagers suspected of helping the Americans.
"We had a lot of near-misses, when they raided places we had been the night before," said Griffin, now 95 and living near Cincinnati.
Eight Raiders were captured, and three executed. A fourth died in captivity. Three had died off China.
"The Chinese people were of immeasurable help to us," Cole reflected. "If it hadn't been for them, I wouldn't be alive today to tell you about this."
Although the Tokyo raid inflicted light damage compared to Pearl Harbor, it shook Japanese confidence and uplifted Americans, said Ambrose, author of "The Pacific."
"It was a symbolic act," he said. "It did wonders for the American people. It was just the sort of calling card that let people understand that ... yes, we're going to do it."
Surviving Raiders got new assignments. Ten more would die in the war.
The Raiders' postwar gatherings have become popular drawing cards for museums, air bases and other locales.
"Young people, parents and their grandparents are there to meet these gentlemen and hear their stories firsthand," Ambrose said. "It's a chance to experience living history ... It becomes a part of us."
Hite, 92, who survived Japanese captivity, had recent health issues, but the Odell, Texas, native and Nashville, Tenn., resident is expected to attend and join the toast.
"It's going to be special," said Griffin. "I can't help but think it's going to be our last big one."
Six years ago, there were still 16 survivors.
By plan, the last two Raiders living will someday make the final toast. They will sip from cognac vintage 1896 -- the year Doolittle was born.
...A SALUTE TO ALL THOSE INVOLVED.
