Flying into History

"I could never be so lucky again." Jimmy Doolittle.

Among the darkest times in living memory was the early part of 1942 -- when Hitler's armies were nearly to Moscow; when German submarines were sinking our oil tankers off the coasts of Florida and New Jersey, within sight of the beaches, and there was not a thing we could do about it; when half our navy had been destroyed at Pearl Harbor. We had scarcely any air force. Army recruits were drilling with wooden rifles. And there was no guarantee whatever that the Nazi war machine could be stopped. Historian David McCullough, Jefferson Lecture (2003).

Mourning the passing of the last Doolittle Raider.

It isn't that Richard Cole isn't important. As the last of the Doolittle Raiders, his passing at one hundred three years old is a monument to him and his life. There was a time, seventy-seven years ago, when he did something incredibly brave, incredibly meaningful.

They went together, the Raiders. Eighty fliers, sixteen specially modified B-25 Mitchells. Most got through the raid and returned to the US. Some didn't.

It is impossible for anyone not living then to understand what America was like. We can read the history books, the personal accounts. But, it is impossible for us, today, in a United States that has been the world's preeminent power for nearly eighty years to understand what early 1942 was like.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was seen by even sober observers as an existential threat to our country. Americans felt powerless in the face of armies that never seemed to retreat. Serious people with important jobs actively prepared for not only the invasion of the Hawaiian Islands. They were planning the defense of the West Coast, hoping to stop the onslaught somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.

The Raiders embarked on the aircraft carrier Hornet, one of the few big American ships left in the Pacific. The planes together carried about as many tons of bombs as one Vietnam-era F-105 fighter/bomber. The ships were discovered several hundred miles short of the aircraft's intended departure point. There wouldn't be enough gas to attack Tokyo and then find the bases in China, to make safe landings.

They took off, anyway.

The damage done to Japan was incidental. American planes would not arrive in large numbers over Tokyo for nearly three more years. Yet... The psychological impact on The US was substantial. We were fighting back. We would be okay.

Now, all of these men of courage have passed into history. They were giants, titans. They got into their airplanes, took off from a pitching carrier deck and delivered a message to the militarists in Japan - America will fight.

God bless you all.