BOMBING ATTACK ON TOKYO: POST-RAID CREW SUMMARY
CREW NO. 2: Lieutenant Travis Hoover was the pilot and had followed us all the way to the Japanese coast. His copilot was Lieutenant William N. Fitzhugh; Lieutenant Richard E. Miller, bombardier; Lieutenant Carl R. Wildner, navigator; Sergeant Douglas V. Radney, engineer-gunner. After deviating to his target area and bombing two factory buildings and storehouses, Hoover sighted us again and trailed us west toward the Chinese coast. As with everyone else, they encountered a stiff headwind and didn’t think they were going to make it to the mainland. However, the headwind lightened and then, providentially, turned into a nice 25-knot tail wind. We all could tell when the wind shifted by observing the whitecaps on the waves. When the weather worsened, Hoover had to leave us and go his own way. Instead of bailing out when his gas was about gone, Trav elected to belly into a rice paddy. No one was injured; after hiding out and walking for about three days his crew was taken into custody by about 30 armed guerrillas who fed them and bedded them down.
Beginning on April 22, they traveled by boat to Sungyao where they met Tung-sheng Liu, a young English-speaking Chinese engineering student, who had just come through the Japanese lines disguised as a merchant. He guided them by ricksha, bus, train, and on foot to Chuhsien where they met Captain Davey Jones and Lieutenant Everett “Brick” Holstrom. They had remained there to intercept gathering crews. Hoover’s crew arrived in Chungking on May 14.*
CREW NO. 3: When Hoover’s plane cleared the Hornet’s deck, Lieutenant Robert M. “Bob” Gray took off. Their three explosive bombs were dropped on industrial targets; the incendiary landed on a dock area. They experienced some antiaircraft fire but were not hit as far as they knew. Arriving over China, Gray ordered his crew to bail out; Corporal Leland D. Faktor, the gunner on this crew, was the one who was killed. Lieutenant Charles J. Ozuk, navigator, injured a leg on landing; and Lieutenant Jacob E. “Shorty” Manch, copilot, cut himself with his knife trying to make a water bag out of his parachute’s rubber cushion. Bob Gray and Sergeant Aden Jones, the rear gunner, were not injured; all four made their way to Chuhsien with the help of friendly Chinese.
CREW NO. 4: Pilot of this crew was Lieutenant Everett W. “Brick” Holstrom; his copilot was Lieutenant Lucian N. Young-blood. Shortly after takeoff, Corporal Bert M. Jordan, the rear gunner, reported that the gun turret was out of commission. This meant they had no defense against enemy fighters except the .30-caliber gun in the nose. They made landfall south of Tokyo and were fired on by four Japanese fighters. When the fighters appeared, Holstrom explained what he did:
“I told the navigator (Lieutenant Harry McCool) to tell Corporal (Robert J.) Stephens, the bombardier, to try to use his nose gun. I had given him (McCool) previous instructions to have Stephens salvo the bombs if we were intercepted, so the bombs were salvoed [into Tokyo Bay] from about 75 feet.”
This crew also bailed out over China when their gas ran out. McCool was injured slightly when he landed on a steep slope.
CREW NO. 5: Captain David M. “Davey” Jones piloted this plane. Lieutenant Ross R. Wilder was copilot; Lieutenant Denver V. Truelove, bombardier; and Lieutenant Eugene F. McGurl, navigator. Corporal Joseph W. Manske, the gunner, had tried to top off the tanks at the last minute before takeoff, but because the carrier was in “battle condition,” the fuel supply had been turned off. Consequently, the tanks were not full. After bombing an oil storage tank, a power plant, and a large manufacturing facility, they escaped. This crew bailed out and joined up next day. No one was injured.
CREW NO. 6: The pilot of this crew was Lieutenant Dean E. Hallmark, a husky six-footer. Copilot was Lieutenant Robert J. Meder; Lieutenant Chase J. Nielsen was navigator; Sergeant Donald E. Fitzmaurice, engineer-gunner; Corporal William J. Dieter, bombardier. Their target was a large steel mill in northeast Tokyo. They escaped without being intercepted. When they got close to China and were nearly out of gas, Hallmark elected to ditch the B-25 close to the beach. The landing was very hard. Hallmark was cut and bruised and, with some difficulty, made it to shore where he was joined by Meder and Nielsen. Dieter and Fitzmaurice were badly injured and drowned. Assisted by friendly Chinese, the surviving trio buried the bodies. They were later apprehended by Japanese soldiers and became prisoners of war.
The Japanese slaughtered many of the Chinese who helped this crew and others. We did not know what happened to these men until the war was over.
CREW NO. 7: This crew’s story has been widely told in a book and motion picture under the title of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. Written by the pilot, Lieutenant Ted W. Lawson, with Bob Considine, Lawson tells of his crew’s experience from takeoff to eventual recuperation from injuries received when they ditched after bombing factories in Japan’s capital city. Lawson, his copilot, Lieutenant Dean Davenport; Lieutenant Charles L. McClure, navigator; and Lieutenant Robert S. Clever, bombardier, all badly hurt, somehow made it to shore. Corporal David J. Thatcher, the gunner, was unhurt. He assisted the others and prevented their being captured. He stayed with them until they began their recovery at a hospital run by Chinese doctors and English missionaries.
Lawson, the most seriously injured of the crew, nearly died. He was saved after Lieutenant T. R. “Doc” White, the gunner on the fifteenth plane, caught up with them. It was very fortuitous that the only physician on the raid was near enough to render assistance. Doc had to amputate Ted’s leg to save his life; in the process Doc gave him two pints of his own blood. The second donation made Doc awfully woozy for several days and could have caused him serious problems. I later made sure that Dave Thatcher and Doc White received the Silver Star for their gallantry and dedication to their crews at great risk to themselves.
CREW NO. 8: Captain Edward J. “Ski” York piloted this plane. His copilot was Lieutenant Robert G. Emmens; Lieutenant Nolan A. Herndon, navigator-bombardier; Sergeant David W. Pohl, gunner; and Sergeant Theodore H. Laban, engineer. Apparently, their plane had been dogged by engine problems from the days at Sacramento when the ground crews there fiddled with the carburetors. Both engines burned fuel excessively, which was all too evident on the run into their target area. After they dropped their bombs, York had to make a difficult command decision. They could not make it if they followed the escape route south and then across the China Sea to the mainland. Making a forced landing in Japan was unthinkable. York believed the only option was to head for Soviet territory and, against orders, headed in that direction. They landed at a field near Vladivostok and naively hoped to refuel and be on their way to Chungking.
Although the State Department had been negotiating with the Soviets to allow us to land there after bombing Japan right up until our departure from Alameda, permission was never granted. In their view, they had good reason. Totally engaged in a war with Nazi Germany in the west, they could not afford to have to battle the Japanese in the east. The Soviets declared their neutrality. To preserve this status, York, his crew, and their B-25 had to be interned. Although the Soviets were our allies, these men were virtual prisoners for the next 14 months, until they escaped into Persia (now Iran). For many months, the Soviet government sent us monthly bills for 30,000 rubles for their keep. For some time afterward, I received irate telephone calls from Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau each time a bill arrived from the Soviet embassy. I recommended he ignore them. I assume he did.
CREW NO. 9: Lieutenant Harold F. “Doc” Watson piloted this plane. His crew dropped their eggs on the Tokyo Gas and Electric Co., on the shore of Tokyo Bay, south of the city. His crew consisted of copilot Lieutenant James M. Parker; Sergeant Wayne M. Bissell, bombardier; Lieutenant Thomas C. Griffin, navigator; and Sergeant Eldred V. Scott, engineer-gunner. As did most of the others, they bailed out in the darkness and rain; Watson was the only one injured and had to be carried to Hengyang by Chinese porters. He was picked up there and eventually evacuated to the States. In the wake of this crew’s escape, Japanese forces killed thousands of Chinese peasants for assisting the Americans. It was later estimated that 250,000 innocent Chinese paid with their lives for helping us.
CREW NO. 10: Lieutenant Richard O. “Dick” Joyce’s main target was the Japan Special Steel Co., located in southern Tokyo. A secondary target was a nearby precision-instrument factory. Both were hit. Joyce’s copilot was Lieutenant J. Royden Stork; Lieutenant Horace E. “Sally” Crouch, navigator-bombardier; Sergeant George E. Larkin, gunner; and Sergeant Edwin W. Horton, engineer-gunner. This plane encountered heavy ack-ack fire but escaped without damage. As Horton received the order from Joyce to bail out the rear hatch of the aircraft, he replied, “Here I go. Thanks, sir, for a swell ride.” None of this crew had any serious injuries.
CREW NO. 11: Captain C. Ross Greening headed this crew; with Lieutenant Kenneth E. Reddy, copilot; Lieutenant Frank A. Kappeler, navigator; Sergeant William L. Birch, bombardier; and Sergeant Melvin J. Gardner, engineer-gunner. Their targets were the docks, oil refineries, and warehouses between Tokyo and Yokohama. Intercepted and fired on by enemy fighters, they dropped all four bombs on a large refinery and tank farm, which immediately exploded. When the weather worsened upon arrival over the Chinese coast, Greening elected to have his crew bail out. All did successfully, although Reddy suffered a slight concussion when he hit. He carried a piece of rock in his scalp for several days until he received treatment in Chuhsien.
CREW NO. 12: Lieutenant William M. “Bill” Bower headed this crew. His copilot was Lieutenant Thadd H. Blanton; Lieutenant William R. Pound, navigator; Sergeant Omer A. Duquette, engineer-gunner; and Sergeant Waldo J. Bither, bombardier. When they arrived over Japan, they were trailed by Japanese fighters but riot fired on. Barrage balloons had been erected over their target—the Yokohama dockyards—so they dropped one demolition on the Ogura refinery, two on factories, and the incendiary on a large warehouse.
This crew also bailed out; Sergeant Duquette broke a bone in his foot on landing. The Chinese made sedan chairs out of parachute harnesses and carried this crew to a joinup with Dick Joyce’s crew.
Sergeant Bither had a serious problem before the bailout. As he made his way from the nose of the B-25 toward the flight deck, he inadvertently sprung his parachute open and had to repack it in the crawl way. Of all the men on the raid, he was the only one who had ever had any training in parachute packing. When I asked him years later if he was worried about it opening, he replied, “Well, I was a little concerned, but if it didn’t open, I didn’t have anybody to blame but myself.”
CREW NO. 13: Being the thirteenth B-25 off the carrier didn’t bother this crew. It was piloted by Lieutenant Edgar E. McElroy; copilot was Lieutenant Richard A. Knobloch; Lieutenant Clayton J. Campbell, navigator; Sergeant Robert C. Bourgeois, bombardier; and Sergeant Adam R. Williams, engineer-gunner. After bombing ships in dry dock and nearby workshops at Yokohama, this crew bailed out successfully. They were rounded up by Chinese guerrillas and proceeded on ponies and sedan chairs to Poyang, a city of about 300,000, where they were greeted and feted by hundreds of townspeople. Banners fluttered from windows; a large one read: WELCOME BRAVE AMERICAN FLYERS. FIRST TO BOMB TOKIO. UNITED STATES AND CHINA RULE THE PACIFIC.
CREW NO. 14: My deputy, Major John A. “Jack” Hilger was the pilot of this aircraft. His copilot was Lieutenant Jack A. Sims; Lieutenant James H. “Herb” Macia, navigator-bombardier; Sergeant Jacob Eierman, engineer; and Sergeant Edwin V. Bain, gunner. Their target was a military barracks, an oil and gas works, and the Mitsubishi aircraft facility in Nagoya. They were all hit with precision, especially the last.
This crew bailed out successfully and made their way to Chuchow in two days. Hilger told me later, “I was never so glad to see anyone in my life as I was to see Jones, Greening, Bower, and all their crew members. It was like a homecoming and we were all as happy as kids. There’s nothing like a familiar face in a foreign country.” He was certainly right.
CREW NO. 15: The target assigned to this plane was located in Kobe, part of an industrial complex southwest of Tokyo. It was piloted by Lieutenant Donald G. Smith; Lieutenant Griffith P. Williams, copilot; Lieutenant Howard A. Sessler, navigator; Sergeant Edward J. Saylor, engineer-gunner; and Lieutenant (Dr.) Thomas R. “Doc” White, gunner and physician. This crew elected to ditch in the ocean off the coast; fortunately, no one was hurt. However, Doc White lost his medical supplies when their life raft overturned in the rough surf. The crew traveled for several days on a Chinese junk, successfully evading Japanese search parties.
As they progressed toward Chuchow, they learned that Lawson and his crew were injured and headed toward a hospital at Linhai. Smith decided to detour to see if they could help out. When they arrived, Doc found that Lawson, Davenport, McClure, and Clever were in no shape to travel. He elected to stay with them while the other members of Smith’s crew and Dave Thatcher of Lawson’s crew went on to Chuchow.
CREW NO. 16: This crew was earmarked for trouble from the beginning. The pilot was Lieutenant William G. “Bill” Farrow; copilot was Lieutenant Robert L. Hite; Lieutenant George Barr, navigator; Corporal Jacob DeShazer, bombardier; and Sergeant Harold A. Spatz, engineer-gunner. Just after Farrow started the engines, a sailor slipped into the spinning left propeller and his left arm was cut off. He was quickly carried away by his buddies.
Last off the carrier, Farrow followed two other planes to their target area in Nagoya. While under attack by fighters, they bombed oil storage tanks and an aircraft factory. They arrived over the Chinese coast at dusk in rain showers and climbed on top of the overcast. As they plodded on and the gas gauges neared the empty mark, there was a break in the overcast and Barr identified the city lights below as Nanchang. Although they knew the city was occupied by the Japanese, they had no choice and bailed out. All were quickly captured. We knew nothing more about what happened to these five men until after the war.
* After the war, Liu came to the States and received his doctorate in aeronautical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1947. He became a citizen in 1954 and was employed by the Air Force as an aeronautical engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Ohio, until his retirement.