45th Anniversary Reunion : Doolittle’s Raiders Relive Their Flight

At age 65, David W. Pohl is the youngest of the Doolittle Raiders, the 80-man group that carried out a historic bombing raid on Japan 45 years ago today.

But despite the years, the events of that day still burn bright in his memory.

The Manhattan Beach resident recalled Friday that the seas were stormy, with spray flying over the bow 70 feet above the water as the aircraft carrier Hornet steamed into the wind about 600 miles off the coast of Japan.

Climbed Aloft

After watching the leading B-25 bombers--7,000 pounds overweight--lumber down the Hornet’s 450-foot deck, clear the carrier’s tower by a mere 18 inches and claw their way aloft, Pohl, a 20-year-old Air Force gunnery sergeant, said he decided not to watch.

As his pilot, Capt. Edward J. York, started the plane’s roll, Pohl turned and looked out the back of the plane.

All 16 planes made successful takeoffs that day and flew on to bomb Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe.

The B-25s were to fly on to China and land, but there was not enough fuel. And, before the day was over, 15 of the five-member crews, including the raid leader, then-Lt. Col James H. Doolittle, had parachuted from their aircraft or crash-landed. Most ended up in China. Only the bomber with Pohl aboard landed intact on a Soviet airstrip near Vladivostok.

“We were received at the point of a submachine gun,” Pohl said.

Because the Soviet Union was not yet at war, Pohl and his fellow crewmen were interned for 14 months. Pohl’s weight dropped from 135 to 118, and he still shivers at the memory of the cold Soviet winter.

“Life in a Siberian village is not my cup of tea,” he said.

Meet Annually

Pohl is among 46 surviving Raiders. Twenty-six of those on the raid are meeting in a three-day annual convention at the Hyatt near Los Angeles International Airport. The meeting is sponsored by the Air Force Assn.

To mark the occasion Friday, a B-25 bomber named the Pacific Princess, with the painting of a beautiful nude to match, was flown into Torrance Municipal Airport, where the Raiders were being honored at a restaurant called Doolittle Raiders.

They posed beside the plane and chatted during a cocktail hour before lunch. One Raider was in a wheelchair. Others showed signs of physical ailments, but most appeared fit, and their personal accounts, polished by years of retelling, flowed smoothly in response to reporters’ questions.

As to what it all means to him 45 years later, Pohl snubs the greater significance seen by military historians. They suggested that the Doolittle raid, which did relatively little damage, goaded the Japanese high command into the disastrous Battle of Midway on June 5 and 6, 1942. The Imperial Navy never recovered.

‘Extension of Family’

“The raid changed my life,” Pohl said. “Belonging to a group like this. I consider it an extension of family. We know each other’s children and grandchildren. We get together each year for three days.”

Doolittle, 91, the oldest raider, plans to fly down from Carmel today to join the men he commanded at a private luncheon. Sometime during the gathering, he will raise a silver goblet in a toast:

“To those who have gone.”