For a long time I have resisted all requests to write my memoirs. I have always felt an autobiography would seem too self-serving. However, at the behest of family and friends, I decided to acquiesce.
I have been joined in this effort by Colonel Carroll V. Glines, USAF (retired), a pilot and an award-winning author, who interviewed me on many occasions for four books about certain aspects of my life: Doolittle’s Tokyo Raiders, Four Came Home, The Doolittle Raid: America’s Daring First Strike Against Japan, and Jimmy Doolittle: Master of the Calculated Risk.
Since we gradually lose our ability to recall as we grow older, in the interest of accuracy, I have relied heavily on the voluminous correspondence in my personal files, interviews I granted many writers and historians through the years, my military and civilian records, and official histories of the Air Force and the corporations that employed me. The memoirs and biographies of my military contemporaries have been especially helpful in providing their viewpoints concerning actions, decisions, and situations in which I was involved.
I have always tried to be truthful in my dealings with my fellow human beings. If I have erred in the following pages, I offer my sincere apologies and promise to make any corrections of fact in subsequent editions of this work. No doubt there will be honest differences of opinion in regard to the rightness or wrongness of decisions I made in the past, especially during my years in uniform. I respect the right of others to differ and hope that those who dispute my judgments will appreciate my viewpoint in the context of the time in which they were made.
My life has spanned the history of successful controlled flight from the Wright brothers to the astronauts. I have been blessed with an understanding family who tolerated my all-too-frequent absences from home. I have survived many mishaps in the air. I have participated in some historical developments that have made contributions to aeronautical progress, and have been privileged to serve my country in many different and fulfilling ways. And I have been honored many times over, far more than I deserve.
As I reflect on more than nine decades of life on this planet, I realize I have been luckier than the law of averages should allow. I could never be so lucky again.
JAMES H. DOOLITTLE
PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA