NEW YORK TIMES: … In April 1942, just a few grim months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, [Edward J.] Saylor, then a sergeant in the Army Air Forces, climbed aboard a B-25 bomber with four crew mates and helped open a new era in the war. The Doolittle Raiders, as they became known — 80 men in 16 bombers led by a swashbuckling lieutenant colonel, James H. Doolittle — launched themselves over the Pacific from the aircraft carrier Hornet, aiming to strike at Japan when few thought it could be done, at least with any hope of survival…
He and his crew had to ditch their B-25 off the Chinese coast after it ran out of gas a mile from a little island controlled by the Japanese. After reaching shore, on a life raft that had been partly punctured by their sinking plane, they found that their only Chinese phrase, “We’re Americans,” had been taught to them in the wrong dialect. A fisherman saved them, hiding them under mats on his boat, and a 14-year-old orphan became their guide and scrounger of food in the subsequent weeks as they evaded Japanese patrols on the mainland. The boy disappeared in the chaos of the war without a trace, Mr. Saylor said.…
Until their mission, no big land-based bomber had ever taken off into combat from an aircraft carrier. Much of their training, led by Colonel Doolittle (later a lieutenant general), who also piloted the lead plane off the deck, was conducted on a tiny practice airstrip in Florida… (more)
These men and many of their time were the best of generations. Their spirit was carried on by those who made lunar landings a mere quarter century later. Both groups had a high probability of never returning and are the supreme example of the “Ask Not…” directive uttered by John Kennedy.