 My fellow Americans, we have most certainly suffered losses, and we shall suffer more of them before the turn of the tide. We Americans have been compelled to yield ground, but we will regain it. In the early days of 1942, American shock following the attack at Pearl Harbor turned to disbelief as the United States endured defeats at Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines. For civilian and military leaders, the time had come to fight back. At the direction of President Roosevelt, Fleet Admiral Ernest King and Chief of Army Air Forces, Hap Arnold, set to work on an operation for the Navy's newest carrier, USS Hornet, to launch an airstrike against military and industrial targets in Japan. From the outset, it was clear that Navy dive bombers were too small to make an effective strike. Instead, they would have to try something that had never been done before, to launch Army bombers from a Navy carrier. To plan the raid, they turned to Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, a legend in the aviation community for just the sort of daredevil tactics that this mission required. His first order of business was to find a bomber that could fit on the Hornet's narrow deck. There's only one plane that can do it, Doolittle reported to Arnold, the B-25. With a wingspan of 67 feet, the B-25 Mitchell could clear the carrier's superstructure, but the 16-ton bomber, which typically used runways thousands of feet long, would need to take off from Hornet in only 467 feet. Doolittle sought volunteers from the 17th Bombardment Group out of Pendleton, Oregon. The raid was so secret that the airmen were told only that it was important and that some might not make it back alive. Every man volunteered. The crews immediately began training in carrier takeoffs with Navy Lieutenant Hank Miller. They would only have three weeks, but under his leadership, the Army pilots began to lift their heavy bombers off the runway in 500 feet, then 400, then as little as 300 feet. On March 24th, the raiders departed for San Francisco, where the Hornet lay at anchor. As he looked down at the carrier from above, one of the airmen remarked, Ain't she small? One week later, Hornet, commanded by Captain Mark Mitchell, steamed into the Pacific. Passing Hawaii, she made her rendezvous with Vice Admiral William Bull Halsey and the USS Enterprise, which would provide fighters with patrol aircraft. As they continued west, tensions mounted. On the morning of April 18th, lookouts on the Hornet identified at Japanese patrol. It was the scout ship, Nito Maru, the task force had been spotted. The time had now come to launch. The Army pilots had perfected short takeoffs on land, but now, as Hornet pitched up and down in the rough seas of the Pacific, few believed that they would make it off the deck. All eyes were on Doolittle in the lead bomber. Miller watched with pride, 16 fully loaded B-25s, crewed by an Army personnel whom he had trained, lifted off from the carrier and flew west toward destiny. Without a doubt, he said later, every officer and man aboard the Hornet would have pinned every medal in the world on those people who went off that deck in those airplanes. Americans awoke the next morning to a rare bit of good news. After months of defeat, Doolittle's successful raid over Tokyo delivered the first victory of the war. Across the Pacific, the raid stunned a Japanese military that had previously thought itself invulnerable. As a direct result, Japan was forced to expand its defensive perimeter, including plans for invading a small island in the Pacific called Midway, for its ingenuity, its audacity, and the bravery of the Army and Navy personnel whose teamwork made it possible. The Doolittle raid has rightly gone down in legend. To the American people, it demonstrated that even against spectacular odds, victory was attainable. It was a small operation, a symbol even, but was the first step in the turning of the tide.