Did they ever try to recover any of the B-25s that sunk right off the beach? Thats kinda what I was asking when I started this post…the consensus is, no. I wish I had Bill Gates kinda money…I`d go look for myself…lol.
The planes that ditched where close to shore and the current (due do a storm raging at the time), waves and rocks broke them apart into several pieces, even has the crew where escaping, so it would be kind of pointless to look for them. Most of the planes crashed over land. I have a book, forgot what its called that details the events of every crew from training to rescue, in it they have a picture of Doolittle standing next to the wing of his plane the next morning, before he was rushed out of the area. The ones that landed in Russia where interned for over a year, moving farther and farther west towards Europe. Then the Russians just “accidently” left the gate open, so to speak and they hitched hike their way to thru Turkey, eventually getting back to the US (who then sent them back into the war).
The Japaneese executed the three because 1. was the bombadier, who dropped the bombs, 2. The pilot in command, because he should have told his men not to drop the bombs, and 3. because he said he fired his machine guns toward the ground. The rest where held in China for a year and then moved to mainland Japan in a POW camp the Hiroshima area.
I read the book mentioned several years ago, so my memory may be off.
Definately remember hearing that the Japs asked each prisoner what their job was and ,if a gunner, were asked if they fired their guns. All of them except the one guy denied firing their weapons…what I heard was that he was a strong willed kin of man …no fear of the Japs…and was warned by the other men to keep his mouth shut but , alas, he didn`t heed the warning.
I remember reading something about the Japanese accusing them of deliberately dropping bombs on a school and then strafing children at play…I’m not sure but this may have been in one of the papers they were forced to sign
Getting back on topic, you are correct, no B-25 of the Doolittle raiders were ever recovered. I’m not sure if anyone knows of the exact locations of those that ditched at sea. There was an expedition in 1990 that went to China to search for those that crashed in China. Here’s a link to that report…
http://www.keepingapace.com/blogarchives/war_history/wwii_doolittle_raiders_return.php
Here’s a plaque presented by the Doolittle raiders in that 1990 trip to the Chinese who helped them escape back to the Allies
The Doolittle Raiders have their own website…http://www.doolittleraider.com
Were these some of the Ameican POW’s who were killed when we nuked Hiroshima?
Tom T [cwby]
It gripes me that unlike Nazi Germany, we actually accepted a conditional surrender, where in addition to leaving their emperor seated, we also gave the Nips a month’s grace to launder their dirtiest deeds, including their Auschwitz-style experiments on POW’s in North Korea, including chemical and biological weapons.
Tom T [cwby]
[quote user=“waikong”]
There was an expedition in 1990 that went to China to search for those that crashed in China. Here’s a link to that report…
DING DING DING! You are the winner! That`s exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks for the info Waikong!
Len