Doolittle Fliers Celebrate 50th Anniversary
A band of untested volunteers who scored a surprise hit on Tokyo during World War II celebrated the 50th anniversary of their air raid Saturday in the town where they first formed under the direction of Jimmy Doolittle.
The men, 35 of whom returned to Columbia for their annual reunion, were honored as heroes in a celebration that drew about 2,000 people to the South Carolina State Museum.
Led by Doolittle, now 95 and unable to make the reunion this year, the 80 aviators took off in 16 B-25s from the Navy carrier Hornet on April 18, 1942, and dropped payloads on Tokyo, Kobe and Yokohama.
The bombing run was the first time Japan was hit after its attack on Pearl Harbor, and it marked a psychological turning point to the war in the Pacific.
“Nothing took place in World War II, I don’t believe, that stirred the American people more . . . than the Doolittle Raiders,” Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) said at the ceremony.
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