Eye Witness Account (2)

Pilot 1st Lt. Ted Lawson; Co-Pilot 2nd Lt. Dean Davenport; Navigator 2nd Lt. Charles McClure; Bombardier 2nd Lt. Robert Clever; Engineer/Gunner Sgt. David Thatcher

 

Lt. Ted Lawson’s plane ran low on fuel approximately 6½ hours after the raid over Tokyo and the crew spotted the Chinese mainland.  It was raining hard and storming as the pilot’s story continues ____

 

“… I told the boys we were going down…  Davenport [co-pilot] was calling off the air speed, when for some reason, I’ll never understand, both engines coughed and lost their power.  In the next split second my hands punched forward and with one motion, I hit both throttles and both prop pitch controls.  I tried to pull back the stick to keep the nose up… we were about one-quarter mile off shore when we hit.

“The two main landing wheels caught the top of a wave…  A curse of desperation was drowned out by the most terrifying noise I ever heard.  It was as if some great hand had reached down, seized the plane and crunched it in a closing fist.  I realized I was sitting in my pilot’s seat on the sand – underwater.  I was in about 10′-15′ of water and I remember thinking, ‘I’m dead.’  I thought of Ellen  [his wife], I wished I had left her some money.  I thought of money for my mother too in those disembodied seconds that seemed to have no beginning or end.

“I guess I had taken in more water, for suddenly I knew that the silence, the peace and the reverie were things to fight against.  I could not feel my arms, yet I knew I had reached down and unbuckled my seat strap.  I told myself my guts were loose.  I came up in the driving rain that beat down out of a blackened sky.  I couldn’t swim.  I was paralyzed.  I couldn’t think clearly, but I undid my chute.  The waves lifted me and dropped me.

“One wave washed me against a solid object.  I realized it was one of the wings, the engine had been ripped off leaving only a tangle of broken wires and cable. And with the recognition came a surge causing nausea and despair.  Only now did I connect my condition with the condition of the plane.  Another wave took me away from the wing and when it turned me around I saw behind me the two tail rudders of the ship sticking up out of the water like twin tombstones.”

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Lt. Lawson’s injuries required his leg to later be amputated; he passed away 19 January 1992.  Fifteen of Doolitle’s crews landed in Japanese-occupied China, but made it back safely with the aid of Chinese peasants.  One crew landed in the Soviet Union and they were immediately interned.  Eight airmen were captured by the Japanese and 4 were executed.  Col. Doolittle considered the mission a failure, but was awarded the Medal of Honor for the monumental psychological impact that was made.

Lt. Lawson’s own words were condensed from the article: “The Doolittle Raid, 1942, EyeWitness to History” which can be located at : eyewitness to history.com; photo of newspaper headline sent by Carl @I Know I Made You Smile.

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Military Humor – 

THE NEW FLIGHT SIMULATOR IS IN!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Robert Beckley – WA & AZ; US Navy, WWII, ETO, troop carrier

Ralph Fisher – Vancouver, CAN; RC Navy, Commander (Ret.), WWII

David Hoene – Waymansville, IN; US Air Force, Vietnam

James Jewell – Flippin, AR; US Army, Vietnam

Janet Leighton – Omokoroa, NZ; 3GH NZ Army # 72063, WWII

Richard Ody – Schenectady, NY; US Army 18 yrs., combat engineer

James Queeny – Duxbury, MA; US Navy, WWII, ETO/PTO, PT-508

Whitney Thompson Jr. – Guilford, CT; US Navy, Korea

William Wilson – Pocatello, ID; US Air Force, Korea

Stephen Yanak – Aiken, SC; USMC & Army (Ret. 20 years), Vietnam (2 tours)