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Remembering the Doolittle Raiders

Sixty-nine years ago today, 80 American heroes took off from an aircraft carrier to strike a blow of retaliation for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. American bombers did not have the range for a round trip from the carriers they took off from. So the planes left on a one-way mission to bomb targets in Japan. James Doolittle wrote about the moment in his biography:

“America had never seen darker days. Americans badly needed a morale boost. I hoped we could give them that by a retaliatory surprise attack against the enemy’s home islands launched from a carrier… We would not return to the Hornet. After bombing our targets, we were to escape to China.”

–Jimmy Doolittle, I Could Never Be So Lucky Again, p. 2

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