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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. A very personal story, told in plain language. The importance of the Doolittle Raid on the American psyche was incalculable, despite only moderate damage by the raiders. The notion of putting twin engine bombers on the postage stamp deck of a carrier was genius. That this pilot and his crew got through China to safety without speaking a word of Chinese defies belief, they did not even know how to say the name of the city they were trying to reach. Along the way the author has his leg amputated, without benefit of a full course of anesthesia. There are more complete accounts of the raid as a whole, but this is still my favorite. (  ) Whiskey3pa | May 3, 2009 |  A taut and compelling account of the author's part in the first bombing raid over Tokyo after Pearl Harbor. The writing is simple and straightforward, without embellishment, perfectly suited for displaying the casual and unselfconscious heroism of the men involved in the raids. The mission was to secretly approach the coast of Japan and take off from a convoy of aircraft carriers, drop their bombs over targets in Tokyo, and land in China. As it happened, an encounter with a Japanese ship forced them to depart from several hundred miles further out, greatly reducing their chances of landing safely after the bombing. Most of the planes were forced to crash-land, including the author's, and he suffered a leg wound that later forced an in-field amputation. Throughout the book there is never a hint of railing at the fates, simply a quiet conviction that this was a job they had to do. The same attitude pervades other WWII accounts I have read, and reinforces my agreement with Tom Brokaw that this was truly the "greatest generation". Illustrated with photographs. (  ) burnit99 | Aug 15, 2007 | Got this at a used bookstore. Son loves it. mrshappyhousewife | Nov 17, 2005 | One of my early adventure stories, this book also led to one of my most embarassing moments. We'll let you guess what that might have been! I recently watched the movie made shortly after the book, and i led me to re-read Lawson's account of the raid. My how I have aged! My Childhood collection represents books I remember reading and loving as a young boy. Some are orginal ones I owned, but, unfortunately, most are replacement copies from yard sales, flea markets, and used book stores. I am always on the lookout for a dozen or so, and I am always trying to remember and add new titles. --JJM, 10/15/05 rmckeown | Oct 15, 2005 |  no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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AMERICA STRIKES BACK!
After Pearl Harbor, America seemed to have lost the war before it had begun. Allied forces were being beaten across the Pacific by the Japanese military juggernaut, and morale was at the breaking point. America desperately needed to strike back at the enemy. For this, a corps of heroic volunteer fliers led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle began training to attack the very heart of the Japanese Empire -- Tokyo.
To succeed, the "Tokyo Raiders" would have to launch sixteen fully loaded B-25 twin-engine medium bombers off the deck of the aircraft carrier Hornet -- something never done before -- and land at airfields in China. Through courage and luck, the raid itself went flawlessly. But bad weather, lack of fuel, and darkness worked against many of the pilots -- and for many, escaping China proved even more perilous than the mission....
This gripping eyewitness account -- hailed as "the most stirring story of individual heroism that [the war] has so far produced" (The New York Times) -- is one of the most daring missions in military aviation history: the legendary Doolittle Raid.
INCLUDES HISTORIC PHOTOS -ยจ SOME NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED
(retrieved from Amazon Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:40:06 -0500)
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