Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

by Scott, James M.

  385 “Out of twenty-eight”: Ibid.

  385 “Yushan was once”: William Stein letter to family, Aug. 15, 1943, Box 1, William Stein Personnel File, DRMA.

  385 A clandestine outfit: Background on Unit 731 comes from Peter Williams and David Wallace, Unit 731: Japan’s Secret Biological Warfare in World War II (New York: Free Press, 1989), pp. 5–20; Sheldon H. Harris, Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932–45, and the American Cover-Up (London: Routledge, 1994), pp. 13–48; Indictment and Speech by the State Prosecutor L. N. Smirnov, in Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army Charged with Manufacturing and Employing Bacteriological Weapons (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1950), pp. 7–37, 405–66.

  386 At full capacity: Testimonies of Kiyoshi Kawashima and Tomio Karasawa, in Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army, pp. 56, 254, 267.

  386 To test these awful germs: Testimonies of Takeo Tachibana and Satoru Kurakazu and the Speech by the State Prosecutor L. N. Smirnov, ibid, pp. 360–68, 426–37.

  386 The Japanese often kept: Harris, Factories of Death, p. 50.

  386 At Pingfan: Ibid., p. 48; Testimony of Kiyoshi Kawashima, in Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army, pp. 56–57, 256–58.

  386 As a macabre souvenir: Nicholas D. Kristof, “Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity,” New York Times, March 17, 1995, p. A1.

  386 “No one”: Testimony of Kiyoshi Kawashima, in Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army, p. 116.

  386 Experiments ran the gamut: Testimonies of Toshihide Nishi, Yoshio Furuichi, Satoru Kurakazu, and the Speech by the State Prosecutor L. N. Smirnov, ibid., pp. 289–90, 357–58, 367–68, 426–37; Williams and Wallace, Unit 731, p. 49.

  386 Researchers fed prisoners: Testimonies of Toshihide Nishi and Yoshio Furuichi, in Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army, pp. 286, 356; Harris, Factories of Death, p. 62.

  386 At other times: Testimonies of Tomio Karasawa and Toshihide Nishi, in Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army, pp. 268–69, 289–90.

  386 “The fellow knew”: Kristof, “Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity,” p. A1.

  386 Researchers struggled: Testimonies of Toshihide Nishi and Ryuji Kajitsuka, in Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army, pp. 290, 298–99; Williams and Wallace, Unit 731, pp. 20–25.

  386 Researchers at Unit 731: Testimony of Kiyoshi Kawashima and Finding of the Experts, in Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army, pp. 255–56, 400–401.

  387 Ishii tested those theories: Testimonies of Tomio Karasawa and Toshihide Nishi and the Speech by the State Prosecutor L. N. Smirnov, ibid., pp. 269–70, 287–88, 437–40; Chen Wen-Kuei, “Memorandum on Certain Aspects of Japanese Bacterial Warfare,” in “Report of the International Scientific Commission for the Investigation of the Facts concerning Bacterial Warfare in Korea and China,” Peking, 1952, p. 213.

  387 After returning from Tokyo: Speech by the State Prosecutor L. N. Smirnov in Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army, p. 441.

  387 The plan was to target: Testimonies of Kiyoshi Kawashima, Tomio Karasawa, Yoshio Furuichi, Takayuki Mishina, and Speech by the State Prosecutor L. N. Smirnov, ibid., pp. 260–62, 270–71, 353–55, 386–89, 441–44.

  388 “Those who returned”: “Japan’s Chekiang-Kiangsi Campaign in 1942, as Reported in the Chinese Press,” Sept. 6, 1943.

  388 “Everybody is sick”: Ibid.

  388 “She was perfectly right”: Ibid.

  388 “Belly ache”: Ibid.

  388 “We avoided staying”: Burchett, Democracy with a Tommygun, p. 64.

  388 In December 1942 Tokyo radio: “Chinese Cholera Epidemic Now Mammoth,” Dec. 14, 1942, Document #JWC 42/11a, Box 2, RG 9999, IWG Reference Collection, Select Documents on Japanese War Crimes and Japanese Biological Warfare, 1934–2006, NARA; FCC Transcript, April 8, 1943, Document #JWC 42/11e, ibid.

  388 “As a note”: “Chinese Cholera Epidemic Now Mammoth.”

  388 “The losses suffered”: Chen Wen-Kuei, “Memorandum on Certain Aspects of Japanese Bacterial Warfare,” p. 215.

  389 “Diseases were particularly”: Headquarters, United States Army Forces, China Theater, Office of the A.C. of S, G-2, “Japanese Preparations for Bacteriological Warfare in China,” Dec. 12, 1944, Document #JWC 314/12b, Box 12, RG 9999, IWG Reference Collection, Select Documents on Japanese War Crimes and Japanese Biological Warfare, 1934–2006, NARA.

  389 “it being common practice”: Ibid.

  389 The three-month campaign: Burchett, Democracy with a Tommygun, pp. 71–72.

  389 “After they had been caught”: “Chiang Reveals Massacres as Tokyo Raid Reprisals,” New York Times, April 29, 1943, p. 1.

  389 “It was even worse”: Joseph Stilwell diary, Oct. 6, 1942, in White, ed., The Stilwell Papers, p. 158.

  389 “Entire villages”: Chennault, Way of a Fighter, p. 169.

  390 “The Japanese have chosen”: “The Japanese in China,” editorial, New York Times, May 28, 1943, p. 20.

  390 “To say that these slayings”: “New Japanese Outrages Call for Vengeance,” editorial, Los Angeles Times, April 30, 1943, p. A4.

  CHAPTER 23

  391 “I went through ninety-two days”: W. N. Dickson, statement, Aug. 31, 1945, Box 57, RG 226, Records of the Office of Strategic Services, Washington/Pacific Coast/Field Station Files, NARA.

  391 Ski York and his crew: Unless otherwise noted, details of York’s crew’s time in Russia are drawn from the following sources: Emmens, Guests of the Kremlin, pp. 73–114; Emmens oral history interview with Hasdorff, July 8–9, 1982; York oral history interview with Hasdorff, July 23, 1984; “Interview with B-25 Crew That Bombed Tokyo and Was Interned by the Russians,” transcript, June 3, 1943; Pohl as told to Dwiggins, “We Crash Landed in Russia—and Escaped,” p. 57.

  391 “Most important of all”: Emmens, Guests of the Kremlin, p. 74.

  391 “We later learned”: Ibid., p. 75.

  392 “Always the thought”: Ibid., p. 76.

  392 “Now we would find”: Ibid., p. 85.

  392 “How long have you”: This exchange is ibid., pp. 86–88.

  393 “In the meantime”: Emmens oral history interview with Hasdorff, July 8–9, 1982.

  393 “Athletic facilities”: William Standley to Cordell Hull, May 25, 1942, in U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1942, vol. 3, p. 563.

  393 “We were completely shut”: “Interview with B-25 Crew That Bombed Tokyo and Was Interned by the Russians,” transcript, June 3, 1943.

  394 “Food and cigarette”: Emmens, Guests of the Kremlin, p. 104.

  394 “Were there only”: Ibid., p. 105.

  394 “What do you think”: This exchange is ibid.

  394 “We are leaving”: This exchange is ibid., pp. 113–14.

  394 The Japanese pulled: C. Jay Nielsen, “Doolittle Fliers’ Saga of Living Death: Meet Darlington Man on Train Ride to Prison,” News and Courier, Sept. 21, 1945, p. 6; Chase J. Nielsen testimony in the case of United States of America vs. Shigeru Sawada et al.

  395 “The coal soot”: Watson, DeShazer, p. 42.

  395 “dreaded ‘Hell Hole’”: James Brown, undated statement, Box 101, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, NARA.

  395 the cream-colored Bridge House: Details of the Bridge House are drawn from the following sources: Tillman Durdin, “Shanghai Reveals Torture Secrets,” New York Times, Sept. 18, 1945, p. 2; Lewis. S. Bishop, “Bridge House Jail, Shanghai,” undated, Box 2121, RG 389, Records of the Office of the Provost Marshall General, American POW Information Bureau Records Branch, General Subject File, 1942–46, NARA; James L. Norwood and Emily L. Shek, “Prisoner of War Camps in Areas Other Than the Four Principal Islands of Japan,” July 31, 1946, Box 33, RG 389, Office of the P
rovost Marshall General, Historical File, 1941–1958, NARA.

  395 “the walls”: Raymond C. Phillips, undated statement, “Mistreatment of Prisoners in Shanghai,” Box 101, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, NARA.

  395 “We all slept”: Alfred P. Pattison, statement, Aug. 31, 1945, Box 57, RG 226, Records of the Office of Strategic Services, Washington/Pacific Coast/Field Station Files, NARA.

  396 Prisoners broiled: Details of prisoner experiences are drawn in part of from a review of more than 100 pages of written statements of former Bridge House prisoners on file in Box 57, RG 226, Records of the Office of Strategic Services, Washington/Pacific Coast/Field Station Files, NARA. The statements I found particularly helpful included those of Henry Forsyth Pringle (Aug. 28, 1945), James Edgar (undated), William Slade Bungey (Aug. 28, 1945), Geoffrey Gordon Forestier (Aug. 31, 1945), Erskine Muton (Aug. 31, 1945), Kenneth William Johnstone (Aug. 30, 1945), and J. M. Watson (undated). Two additional folders containing another 200 pages of Bridge House prisoner statements and reports can be found in Box 101, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, NARA. Statements and reports of particular interest included those of Lewis Sherman Bishop (Aug. 7, 1945); Raymond C. Phillips (undated); War Department General Staff G-2, Military Intelligence Service, Ex-Report No. 669, July 12, 1945, Bishop, Lewis S.; Edwin Arthur Thompson (undated); Hazel N. Montilla (Oct. 20, 1945); Frederick George Jones (Oct. 7, 1945); Robert J. Reed (May 28, 1945); C.D. Smith (Feb. 26, 1945); Henry H. Comen (undated); and James Brown (undated). Other sources included the folder Bridge House Jail, Shanghai, China, in Box 2121, RG 389, Records of the Office of Provost Marshal General, American POW Information Bureau Records Branch, General Subject File, 1942–46, NARA; J. B. Powell, “Prisoner of the Japanese,” Nation, Oct. 10, 1942, pp. 335–37; M. C. Ford, “Slow Death in a Jap Cage,” Collier’s, Sept. 5, 1942, pp. 14–15, 32.

  396 “I had no idea”: Henry H. Comen, undated statement, Box 101, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, NARA.

  396 “it is truly a hell on earth”: Intelligence Report, “Description of Conditions at Bridge House, Shanghai; Character Sketch of the Japanese Gendarmie,” Sept. 12, 1942, Box 9, RG 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Casualty Branch, NARA.

  396 “The guards”: S. W. Harris, statement, Aug. 30, 1945, Box 57, RG 226, Records of the Office of Strategic Services, Washington/Pacific Coast/Field Station Files, NARA.

  396 “It isn’t so bad”: Tillman Durdin, “Shanghai Reveals Torture Secrets,” New York Times, Sept. 18, 1945, p. 2.

  396 “The torture chambers”: William Slade Bungey, statement, Aug. 28, 1945.

  396 “The screams”: Henry H. Comen, undated statement.

  396 “Are you a Christian?”: Durdin, “Shanghai Reveals Torture Secrets,” p. 2.

  397 “I was seized”: Henry Forsyth Pringle, statement, Aug. 28, 1945.

  397 American journalist John Powell: Powell, “Prisoner of the Japanese,” pp. 335–37; “Jap’s Enemy No. 1,” Time, Sept. 7, 1942, p. 65; “Jap’s Victim Walks Again,” Time, April 30, 1945, p. 69; John B. Powell, My Twenty-Five Years in China (New York: Macmillan, 1945), pp. 370–422.

  397 “I wouldn’t say”: “Americans Return from Jap Prison Camps,” Life, Sept. 7, 1942, p. 23.

  397 “He was in a pitiable condition”: J. M. Watson, undated statement.

  397 He died two days later: “Protests concerning British Officials William Hutton Interned in Shanghai,” Reference Code # B02032502500, Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, Tokyo, Japan. See also Greg Leck, Captives of Empire: The Japanese Internment of Allied Civilians in China, 1941–1945 (Bangor, Pa.: Shandy Press, 2006), pp. 115–17.

  397 The Japanese forced: Details of the airmen’s experiences in Bridge House are drawn from the following sources: Chase J. Nielsen testimony in the case of United States of America vs. Shigeru Sawada et al.; Nielsen, “Doolittle Fliers’ Saga of Living Death: Meet Darlington Man,” p. 6.

  397 “A Jap and a Chinese”: Nielsen, “Doolittle Fliers’ Saga of Living Death: Meet Darlington Man,” p. 6.

  398 Allied prisoners: “Summary of Interviews with Frederick B. Opper, Associate Editor of the Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury in New York City, February 23, 26, & March 4,” Box 1, Series XI, DTRAP; Frederick B. Opper, “Opper Recalls Imprisonment of U.S. Pilots,” Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury, April 30, 1943, p. 1.

  398 “What’s Shanghai like?” Opper, “Opper Recalls Imprisonment of U.S. Pilots,” p. 1.

  398 “Tokyo”: Ibid.

  398 “We grinned cheerfully”: Ibid.

  398 “The building was infested”: Chase J. Nielsen testimony in the case of United States of America vs. Shigeru Sawada et al.

  398 “We maintained a guard”: Nielsen, “Doolittle Fliers’ Saga of Living Death: Meet Darlington Man,” p. 6.

  398 “It was the first time”: Watson, DeShazer, p. 45.

  399 “It was hard to take”: Hite oral history interview with Hasdorff, Dec. 16–17, 1982.

  399 “Bill, I don’t know”: Doug Clarke, “The Raid: Long Ago ’n’ Bombs Away,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 18, 1982, p. 1.

  399 “We would have gone stark”: Nielsen, “Doolittle Fliers’ Saga of Living Death: Meet Darlington Man,” p. 6.

  399 “We talked a lot”: Ibid.

  399 seventeen days without: Raymond C. Phillips, “Mistreatment of Prisoners in Shanghai,” undated.

  399 “He had no control”: Chase J. Nielsen testimony in the case of United States of America vs. Shigeru Sawada et al.

  399 “He wanted me to sing”: Hite oral history interview with Hasdorff, Dec. 16–17, 1982.

  400 “Notify Chief of Army Air Corps”: Arthur Vincent Toovey Dean, statement, Aug. 28, 1945, Box 57, RG 226, Records of the Office of Strategic Services, Washington/Pacific Coast/Field Station Files, NARA.

  400 The Japanese came: The trial of the raiders is covered in great detail in the war crimes records found in Box 1728, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, NARA. To re-create this scene I relied on the testimonies of Chase Nielsen, George Barr, Robert Hite and Jacob Deshazer, Ryuhei Okada, Yusei Wako, and Sotojiro Tatsuta, as well as Itsuro Hata, “Particulars Relating to the Punishment of the American Airmen Who Raided the Japanese Homeland on 18 April 1942,” and the Record of Trial, Aug. 28, 1942.

  400 “The flies buzzed”: Nielsen, “Doolittle Fliers’ Saga of Living Death: Meet Darlington Man,” p. 6.

  400 “As a matter of fact”: Chase J. Nielsen testimony in the case of United States of America vs. Shigeru Sawada et al.

  401 “It is evident”: Ryuhei Okada testimony in the case of United States of America vs. Shigeru Sawada et al.

  401 “What is it?”: This exchange comes from Nielsen, “Doolittle Fliers’ Saga of Living Death: Meet Darlington Man,” p. 6.

  401 Dysentery had reduced: Descriptions of Hallmark are drawn from the testimonies of Alexander Hindrava, Alexander John Sterelny, and Teh Ling Chung in the case of United States of America vs. Shigeru Sawada et al.

  401 “His bowels”: Testimony of Alexander Hindrava, ibid.

  401 “only as much as his bones”: Ibid.

  401 The seven other raiders: Details on Kiangwan are drawn from Chase Nielsen’s testimony in the case of United States of America vs. Shigeru Sawada et al.

  401 “We had nothing to read”: Robert L. Hite and Jacob DeShazer, “Doolittle Fliers’ Saga of Living Death: Confinement in Filthy Cell Can Be Horrible,” News and Courier, Sept. 23, 1945, p. 12.

  401 Ten days after the attack: Testimony of Ryukichi Tanaka, in R. John Pritchard and Sonia Magbanua Zaide, eds., The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, 22 vols. (New York: Garland, 1981), vol. 6, pp. 14,353–63, 14,379–84.

  402 “This shouldn’t happen”: Stephan, Hawaii under the Rising Sun, pp. 113–14.

  402 “Should they deserv
e to be Japanese”: Yoshitake Miwa diary, April 27, 1942.

  402 “North American Aircraft, Banzai!”: Edward J. Drea, The 1942 Japanese General Election: Political Mobilization in Wartime Japan ([Lawrence]: Center for East Asian Studies, University of Kansas, 1979), p. 133.

  402 General Hajime Sugiyama: Edwin P. Hoyt, Japan’s War: The Great Pacific Conflict (New York: Cooper Square Press, 2001), p. 277.

  402 He made that demand: Testimony of Koichi Kido, in Pritchard and Zaide, eds., The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, vol. 13, p. 31,062.

  402 Sugiyama likewise pressed: Testimony of Hideki Tojo, ibid., vol. 6, pp. 14,601–2.

  402 “It was not against”: Ibid., p. 14,600.

  402 “This was the first time”: Ibid., p. 14,601.

  402 Others shared Tojo’s reluctance: Testimony of Ryukichi Tanaka, ibid., vol. 12, pp. 29,048–49.

  402 the vice minister of war: Ibid., vol. 6, pp. 14,401–2.

  402 Top commanders on the ground: Testimony of Shigeru Sawada, ibid., vol. 11, p. 27,454; testimony of Masatoshi Miyano, ibid., vol. 12, pp. 28,870–71.

  402 “I believe it was due”: Testimony of Ryukichi Tanaka, ibid., vol. 6, p. 14,420.

  403 Tojo’s meeting that Tuesday: Ibid., pp. 14,401–2.

  403 General Hata not only: Testimony of Masatoshi Miyano, ibid., vol. 12, pp. 28,870–74.

  403 “Arisue was sent”: Testimony of Ryukichi Tanaka, ibid., vol. 12, p. 29,044.

  403 “At no time”: Testimony of Masatoshi Miyano, ibid., vol. 12, p. 28,879.

  403 Japan had failed: Affidavit of Hideki Tojo, pp. 191–95, in Box 35, Series 5.2, GWPP.

  403 Military Law Concerning the Punishment of Enemy Airmen: A copy of this law can be found in the war crimes files in Box 1728, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, NARA.

  403 Sugiyama’s staff: Saibu Tanabe to Jun Ushiromiya, “Memo Pertaining to the Disposition of Enemy Airmen,” July 28, 1942, ibid.

  403 As soon as the judges: Testimony of Hideki Tojo, in Pritchard and Zaide, eds., The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, vol. 6, p. 14,602.

  403 “At 11:30 Premier Tojo”: Koichi Kido diary, Oct. 3, 1942, ibid., p. 14,608.