Published: 1 March 2009
Air & Space Power Journal - Spring 2009
The First Heroes: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raid—America’s
First World War II Victory by Craig Nelson. Penguin Group (http://us.penguingroup.com),
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, 2003, 448 pages, $16.00 (softcover).
The story of Jimmy Doolittle and the Tokyo raiders is a legend well known to students of Air Force and American history. Craig Nelson’s book The First Heroes recounts the tale of 16 B-25s and their aircrews, launched from the heaving deck of the USS Hornet to deal a psychological blow to the Japanese in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The American people desperately wished to retaliate, and the Doolittle raid, by all accounts, embodied a risky and desperate effort to strike that blow. In this meticulously researched history, Nelson breaks the story into its elements and focuses on individual stories of the men who flew the mission. Through interviews with surviving raiders, the author reveals the quiet heroism of these pilots, bombardiers, navigators, engineers, and gunners.
Of particular interest is the book’s depiction of the decision-making process that led to approval of the extremely hazardous mission. The United States found itself woefully unprepared for war in December 1941 and had few options available to attack the Japanese. In light of all the bad news from the Pacific theater, American morale badly needed a quick victory. Special Aviation Project no. 1, as the Doolittle raid was known, earned approval not because it represented the best military option available but because it was the only option. Seeing the strategic value of striking the Japanese homeland, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt turned to the Air Corps to find a way to do so with long-range bombers. FDR didn’t much care how the Air Corps accomplished the mission—just that it met the objective. He encouraged the chiefs to “let their imaginations run wild” as they planned the attack (p. 107). Only two of the chiefs—Adm Ernest King and Gen Henry “Hap” Arnold—had much enthusiasm for the idea. Admiral King was anxious to avenge the horrendous Navy losses at Pearl Harbor, and General Arnold saw an opportunity to establish the role of airpower in the American way of war. Thus the stage was set for what would become an unprecedented joint operation of historical proportions.
The idea of launching Army Air Corps bombers from the deck of an aircraft carrier came from a US Navy submariner, Capt Francis “Frog” Low. Embarrassed and apprehensive about the absurdity of his idea, Captain Low waited until he was alone with Admiral King to pitch it. The fact that the admiral did not immediately dismiss Low’s proposal as impossible testifies to the lack of viable military options. It is also a credit to American ingenuity that such an idea emerged from a naval officer with only rudimentary knowledge of air operations. Perhaps a concept as unorthodox as Special Aviation Project no. 1 could have come only from someone with little practical knowledge of bombers and carrier aviation. In any case, the US Navy and Army Air Corps would accomplish together what neither could achieve on its own.
General Arnold, who had to choose someone to lead the effort, needed “not exactly a combat leader, but another detail man, an inspiring commander forceful enough to get this done on the very short timetable allowed, a methodical thinker who could anticipate the various problems that might arise and prepare for them, an officer with the guts to go up against the army’s slow-moving bureaucratic deadwood and whip this mission right out of it” (p. 110). General Arnold knew of only one man in the entire Army Air Corps who met his criteria: Lt Col Jimmy Doolittle, whose remarkable attention to detail and exacting, uncompromising standards in the training of the bomber crews have become a study in military leadership. The risks he took were measured where possible and mitigated by training and planning, but he understood the mission’s extreme importance and realized it might fail despite all of his efforts.
The bomber crews who volunteered for the mission knew nothing about the plan except that it was “dangerous, important, and interesting” (p. 9). They were not handpicked for their skill, prowess, demonstrated bravery, or reputation. A line Army Air Corps B-25 unit, the 17th Bombardment Group included a cross section of the Corps’ bomber-crew force, eager to get into the fight. As the dangerous nature of the mission became apparent, the crews had every opportunity to quit. Just prior to takeoff, in fact, Doolittle made clear that there was no shame in backing out. But not a single man walked away. Instead, most of them worried about being cut from the mission and went to great lengths to ensure their place. The unvarnished and human manner in which Nelson tells their individual stories, which make up the backbone of the book, never diminishes their heroism. Capturing a particularly poignant moment, the book includes a grainy snapshot of Doolittle sitting near the wrecked wing of his Mitchell bomber, feeling “lower than a frog’s posterior” (p. 216). At that moment, he considered the mission a dismal failure. The author does great credit to the flying crews and their tales by compassionately combining detailed research, historical context, and the voices of the Airmen themselves.
A study in leadership at all levels of war, The First Heroes offers an excellent historical record of successful (albeit reluctant) interservice cooperation. Reinforcing the need for creative problem solving in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, it exemplifies what well-led Airmen can accomplish. However, the last chapter, entitled “Coda,” loses focus, wandering through a laundry list of occasionally interesting, often irrelevant facts that lack coherence. It is an unsatisfying end to an otherwise compelling book. In sum, The First Heroes reminds the Air Force of its role as an innovative, risk-taking service with a unique role in the American way of war and a rich heritage of heeding the nation’s call to arms.
Maj Matthew E. Dillow, USAF
Pentagon, Washington, DC
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