Doolittle+Raids+B2

Name: James Doolittle Age: 46 Hometown: Alameda, California Relationships: N/A Ethnicity: White Birthday: December 14, 1896 The attack on Pearl Harbor shook American morale and in 1942 President Roosevelt devised a way to once again boost America’s morale (Osborne). Roosevelt believed that an attack on Tokyo would work to do just that. However, such a feat was considered nearly suicidal because there was no Allied base close enough to Japan and a carrier wouldn’t be able to get close enough for an attack (Shepherd). Eventually, the army devised a plan that would require an aircraft carrier, the //Hornet//, to bring the fuel efficient B-25 near enough to Japan so that we could bomb the cities of Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, and Yokohama, and then land in China (Osborne). The attack was led by me and on April 18, 1942 I guided 16 bombers to Japan in an attack similar to Pearl Harbor (Danzer et al 579). My plane was the first to leave the carrier and the other 16 followed after an hour and at 12:30 pm the bombing began (Shepherd; Osborne). Surprisingly almost all of my comrades survived the mission; only three crewmen were killed during the mission, and 8 were captured, three of which were executed by the Japanese. Although my attack did little damage to Japan, it did hurt their moral and while it boosted Americas (Osborne). When I returned to America I saw an old newspaper that said “Tokyo Bombed! Doolittle Do’od It” (Danzer et al 579). Also the attack forced the Japanese to move their air force to their homeland in order to increase the defensive of Japan’s mainland, which proved to be a fateful decision (Osborne). __Works Cited__ Danzer, Gerald, et al. __The Americans__. Evanston, Illinois: McDougal Littell Inc., 2003. Osborne, Eric W. "Raid on Tokyo, 1942." __Encyclopedia of American Military History__. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003. __American History Online__. Hunterdon Central Regional High School. 24 October 2007. Shepherd, Joel. “The Doolittle Raid.” __USS Enterprise CV-6.__ 2003. 24 October 2007.  __Picture citaion__ http://www.pentagon.gov/news/Apr2006/screen_20060419103559_7doolittleraide-20060419.jpg