And then a Hero comes along

And then a Hero comes along

With all these athletes and actors obtaining "hero" status for playing a game or play-acting, it seems some of our real heroes go mostly unnoticed.

Not that anyone would have heard about this on the news, but yesterday in Dayton, Ohio, 5 men were honored for their heroic actions 70 years ago.  Now, first off, with my bloodline, making it past 70 years old alone would be considered heroic.  These men however are not only still around, but amazingly so.  For 70 years ago yesterday, they, and 75 other men embarked in what most considered a suicide mission.  These men were part of the Doolittle Raid on Japan, April 18^th 1942.

Now for most of us, when we hear “Doolittle”, we think of Rex Harrison and the push-me-pull-you…or the younger crowd may think of yet another bad Eddie Murphy movie…and the Conservatives might think that is how they want their government to act.  But this man, Doolittle, James Doolittle… did the unthinkable.  It is easy to follow orders, sometimes even easier to give them.  But to develop a plan never done before, sell the idea to your superiors, train these men to do what was told was impossible and then lead them on this mission…I am sorry, this is not a Batting Title or an Oscar…it is a real life hero.  The 79 others that he led on that mission are no less heroes themselves.

A little history lesson, because it is ALWAYS history month in the Walsh household…and if you had the opportunity to drop by, you understand.   Bare with me, I will try and give a short, oversimplified synopsis and not bore you to death.

The Japanese had been pushing the Americans, unprepared for war, back on every front in the Pacific.  This mission was designed to show the Japanese we would not go down without a fight.  Hit them where they live…a strategy that is never outdated in any fight.  But how?  Japan is an Island, thousands of miles away.  The plan was to sail ships with planes thousands of those miles over open, dangerous, enemy infested waters close enough to Japan to use these planes…against an enemy who had shown it’s might by decimating the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.  The idea also consisted of placing BIG planes and put them on a SMALL ship…the BIG planes have a better range so you did not have to get TOO close to Japan.  However these BIG planes were never designed to take off from a ship…EVER.  Ok, you might say wow…then it is not so easy to launch these BIG planes off a SMALL ship…well, guess what is harder, or actually impossible?  Landing these BIG planes back on to a SMALL ship.  These 80 men took off knowing they were not returning.  Their only hope was to make it to China after dropping their bombs on Japan.  What made it even worse, due to the ships being spotted by the Japanese, was that these men had to take off sooner than they wanted…making it a long shot to get to China alive.  They never wavered.  77 of these men would survive the mission.

This mission goes largely unnoticed today.  It was, however, depicted in the somewhat recent movie Pearl Harbor…or the working title “Ben Affleck ruins another movie”.  Why the Doolittle Raid was in a movie about Pearl Harbor I have no idea, but don’t worry, they got the historical facts just as wrong about the raid as they did the attack on Pearl Harbor itself.  I recommend Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo…with Spencer Tracey…just a wee bit better actor than AFF-LACK.

Anyway…6 months ago I was in Dayton, OH…why?  I am not so sure myself.  Luckily, Dayton is the home of the Unites States Air Force museum.  It is here that the surviving members hold the Doolittle Raid reunion every year.  There is a case with goblets, 80 of them, each containing the name of a member of the mission.  When they pass, the goblet is turned upside down.  The surviving members drink a toast each year to their fallen comrades.  When it gets down to the last 2 surviving members, they will drink the final toast.  I had the unique opportunity to see the goblets in their case…and the 5 that remained upright.

So next time you have Lin-sanity or March Madness or are Star Struck…remember…

Remember these 5 men,  the other 75 no longer with us…and all the other service men like them past and present…that did not win a Batting Title or an Oscar…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u0l9k_T4hY&feature=youtu.be