Doolittle's Raiders recall daring WW II mission

When your country’s leaders take your country to war, they take every man, woman and child in that country to war. Pandering to the idea

Pandering to the idea that its fair game that every man woman and child be drug into war is definitely a huge part of the problem here. It is no more justified to attack women and children in war for what the leaders did than it is to set fire to a community because some criminals live in it. The latter used happen, but no more. And so can the former be ended as well.

The military does not get tired of war,

Many of soldiers who actually go fight it do.

In today’s world, an army of pacifists sit in their armchairs in cold comfort and decry the ugliness of war

I am afraid that if I got up and bombed the Pentagon I would lose not only the title of "armchair" but also the title of "pacifist". Or is there some other way I can stop war?

When your country’s leaders take your country to war, they take every man, woman and child in that country to war. Pandering to the idea that when civilians get killed as collateral damage that it is somehow a crime is just hogwash. There is no such thing as civilized war, anything less than maximum effort just prolongs the conflict and worse, just means you are going to have to fight the same war at a future date. The military does not get tired of war, it is their job, civilians get tired of war because it destroys their lives and families. In today’s world, an army of pacifists sit in their armchairs in cold comfort and decry the ugliness of war when a few civilians die in some $hit hole country that is populated with people who are more than willing to let their government abuse them and commit “holy” murders throughout the rest of the world. Any war will not cease until the civilian population have had enough….. or are all dead.

Titanium stones - agreed VRW. As a pilot and avid aviation historian, the guys that flew the raid certainly had them. The debate over right-wrong, I'll leave that to the "experts" on here, but the campaigns in WW2 have some pretty amazing actions by pilots with little regard to their own safety - Battle of Britain, daylight raids over Europe, Doolittle raid, Kamikaze campaigns, Midway campaign - and (how many thumbs down will I get for this) the Pearl raid.

According to most sources I can find, there were 68 civilian deaths at Pearl Harbor.

Yes, and they were killed either by American AA fire from Pearl or killed on the base at Pear. I don't expect anyone to distinguish between military and civilian if they are on a military base. If you walk on a military base, you make yourself a legit target. The Japanese did not target civilian areas at Pearl. But the Americans did target civilian areas in the Doolittle Raid. Sorry, its a fact. Buck up and accept it. It happened 70 years ago.

MBP, the purpose of the raid was propaganda, as has been said. To show the American people that the military could fight back, and to show the Japanese people that they weren't invulnerable. (Frankly, it's a good thing Curtis LeMay wasn't running things at the time of the raid - he would have had the raiders drop incendiary bombs, as he did when he took command in early 1945.) The raid served its purpose.

According to most sources I can find, there were 68 civilian deaths at Pearl Harbor. This is not to say that the Japanese civilians "had it coming," only to illustrate that civilian casualties are part of most any military action.

The Japanese brought it on themselves,

So VRWC, if some of my countrymen do wrong, I and my whole family deserve to be slaughtered for it? No thanks. Those that supported warring on the Taliban are welcome to stand up and beg to take Warren Weinstein's place in Pakistan. As for me, I didn't support it, and I want no part of it. But you see, those guys are using your logic, your twisted self-serving logic. School kids did NOT bring it upon themselves.

Sorry, forgot to mention the 250,000 Chinese civilians who were murdered by the Japanese Army in the subsequent search for the Doolittle raid survivors.

Nice apologia MBP. Too bad it is wrong. The Japanese brought it on themselves, by firebombing Chinese cities like Chongqing (sp) years earlier. More bombs, more death, exponentially. So in a very real sense the Japanese can be seen to have reaped what they had sown.

It gives me pause that while only 13 targets were selected, they somehow managed to hit six schools and a hospital. I understand one of those schools was severely damaged and school kids were killed. But nobody likes to talk about that.

50 dead Japanese and 400 injured. The raid targeted mostly light industry rather than the military. Thus, its safe to assume that most casualites were civilian. Nobody likes to talk about that either.

Wikipedia says the damage was quickly repaired. I doubt those 50 dead people were repaired!

The raid was 70 years ago. It would be nice if we could drop the propaganda rubbish and speak facts. There were brave aspects to the raid. But there was also inexcuseable action. The whole thing set the stage to firebombing civilians cities and nuking them too. I cannot in good conscience condone this.

These men had truly massive, titanium stones to undertake a mission like they did. The fact that it took place less than half a year after Pearl Harbor is a testament to the remarkable spirit and attitude of all involved.

They struck terror at the heart of their enemies, both combatants and civilians, they are an inspiration for freedom fighters everywhere!

anyone who fought the pure evil of germany and japan in any capacity, including their own dissenters, is a hero and a saint.

LOL and would you know, people who can't tell sarcasm are giving you the thumbs up.

The imperial Japanese military governemnt was totally reckless and shear madness during the decision making of invading China, south east asia and Pear harbour! She has no stragetic objectives nor military intelliegnces to help making the next move! Pear harbour was a 'trap' Roosevelt setup for Japan to set in! And Stalin made the peace deal with Japan was the biggest hoax in WW2, Japan pays nearly for the trust of the soviet union during the last few weeks of August 1945! What the Japanese at that night was a crazy mania and slaughtering the Chinese villages who were or weren't responsible for saving thoseair men could save their 'face' when Tokyo was bombed! Thats why Chinese hates japanese so much!

anyone who fought the pure evil of germany and japan in any capacity, including their own dissenters, is a hero and a saint.

The raid was for propaganda and did no real damage. I suspect most of the bombs missed killing hapless civilians. Even so they were brave men, Sad they had to takeoff early, they may have reached their recovery airfields otherwise. They are not war criminals because they were aiming at legitimate targets but missed. So I toast these brave men, bravo zulu!