What if....

[Richard]

What if the Dolittle raiders had remained as tight lipped as do some other airmen of that time? Too often do those men remain quiet about how they fought. It is in the national interest to have their stories revealed to us.

 

[Bob Noel]

What if the Dolittle raiders had remained as tight lipped as do some other airmen of that time? Too often do those men remain quiet about how they fought. It is in the national interest to have their stories revealed to us.

" It is in the national interest to have their stories revealed to us at the appropriate time."

concur (with the modification).

 

[Fearless Tower]

Couple of thoughts.....there were a whole lot of Raiders....not all of them were as prolific in sharing their experiences as some like Lawson. I am sure that there were some in the group that didn't talk as much about the experience.

Second, when you think about it, while I am in no way downplaying the efforts of the Raiders and what they risked.....they still didn't have the kind of experience that guys who flew B-17's and B-24s over Germany did - ie seeing your buddies die right next to you on a regular basis. The Raiders experienced pretty extremely light resistence and with the exception of the few that were captured by the Japanese, they didn't experience the horrors of war in that attack that many others did during the war. Sometimes, people don't want to talk because it brings back too many memories that they desire to supress.

As far as being revealed at the appropriate time....the Raiders did just that. Their stories were not 'immediately' put out.

 

[TMetzinger]

The Doolittle raid was as much or more a psych-ops job as it was a tactical bombing. It NEEDED to be publicized in order to do it's job of improving morale at home after Pearl Harbor, and to make the Japanese (and others) worry about their homelands being bombed.

Lots of other stuff (taking out Yamamoto) NEEDED to be kept secret for as long as possible to prevent giving away useful information.

 

[Old Geek]

What Tim said. This particular raid was done knowing that the physical damage would be minimal and that the greatest benefit would be to let both the Japanese and US populations know that Tokyo was not unreachable.

 

[dmccormack]

When you return and most of your buddies don't.. it's hard to be all voluble about what you did.

My father was on Destroyer Escorts in the Pacific in WW2. He passed in 1982, before all the greatest generation hoopla.

He always said, "It's the guys that talk the most who were never there.." I think that sentiment was shared by most combat veterans until recently.

 

[dell30rb]

I read a couple of good books about the DE's in WWII. Tin Can sailors and one other.. neptune's inferno I think

 

[nddons]

When you return and most of your buddies don't.. it's hard to be all voluble about what you did.

My father was on Destroyer Escorts in the Pacific in WW2. He passed in 1982, before all the greatest generation hoopla.

He always said, "It's the guys that talk the most who were never there.." I think that sentiment was shared by most combat veterans until recently.

I learned more from my dad about his days in the war (D+1, St. Vithe in the Bulge) in the 9 months he had cancer than in the 45 years I had spent with him before that.

 

[Skip Miller]

The Doolittle raid was as much or more a psych-ops job as it was a tactical bombing. It NEEDED to be publicized in order to do it's job of improving morale at home after Pearl Harbor, and to make the Japanese (and others) worry about their homelands being bombed.

-Skip

 

[Fearless Tower]

The Doolittle raid was as much or more a psych-ops job as it was a tactical bombing. It NEEDED to be publicized in order to do it's job of improving morale at home after Pearl Harbor, and to make the Japanese (and others) worry about their homelands being bombed.

But even then, the actual stories from the Raiders were not immediately released to the public. That came later. Even when Lawson's book was first approved for release, all of the names of the people who helped him in China were changed to protect the real ones from Japanese retaliation.

 

[Ghery]

Another book that covers the Doolittle raid, along with the author's subsequent experiences during the war (shot down over Italy in a B-26, POW, etc) is "Not As Briefed". H. Ross Greening was the pilot who came up with the simple replacement for the Norden bombsight used on the Doolittle raid. He flew the 2nd or 3rd (IIRC) plane off the carrier.