 Here's a toast to the halls of memory, both he and S.F.O. 1941, 24 hours after the date that will live in infamy, the nation assembled to hear their commander-in-chief. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire. Bombs from enemy planes had finally brought national unity. Fortunately, to lead the war effort, we had men like Mr. Robert Lovett assistant secretary of war for air. Judge Robert Patterson, under secretary of war. Chief of the Army Air Forces, General Henry Arnold, getting a staff which included Carl Spots, James Doolittle, Ira Aker, and Coit Vandenberg, among others. And one of America's leading advocates for expanded air power, Secretary of War Henry Stimpson. He checked U.S. outposts like General Frank Andrews' Caribbean Defense Command. In charge of Army forces in the Far East was the man who had helped us establish the GHQ Air Force, General Douglas MacArthur. Now he consulted with Manuel Quezon, president of the Philippines. Together, they had kept the island secure after a week of heavy bombing by the Japanese. Max men, close to a knockout, rolled with a punch. Not so, Mark Field. Here, despite a nine-hour warning, half our total bombing force was lost on the ground. But this didn't stop the Far East Air Force on emergency fields from wiring its planes together to fight what was destined to be a losing battle. Fighter pilots like Joseph Moore, Grant Mahoney, and Samuel Merritt fought a delaying action. Never knowing if their temporary bases would be safe for return, they prepared to engage the enemy. A few B-17s that escaped destruction joined the fight. Distinguishing themselves were bomber pilots Rosie O'Donnell, Hewitt-Wheeless, and Kelly. That's Captain Colin Kelly. His fortress had been directed to locate and sink a carrier. Instead, a Jap heavy cruiser was spotted. A warship made a good target for Kelly's bombardier, Maier 11. The bombs damaged and stopped the warship. Colin Kelly's life came to a hero's end that morning. Maier 11's luck ran out of a new guinea a year later. And despite the heroic sacrifices of men like Kelly and Levin, the Japs finally drove the Allies out of the Philippines. In Australia, where we had to concentrate our limited air strength after retreating from the islands, our job was to stop the Japs from sweeping over all the Pacific. With this in mind, we had to deploy our forces for the defense of Australia early in 1942. That's why General Ralph Royce, Chief of Pacific Air Staff, piloted his new boss, General George Brett, Chief of Allied Air Forces in the Pacific, on an aerial inspection tour. General Brett decided his air units must encompass the entire continent of Australia. All this time, there was an American volunteer group in Asia. Here, Special Advisor to the Chinese Air Force, Claire Chenault, had 84 volunteer pilots, including men such as Tex Hill, George Burgard and Robert Smith. Nicknamed the Flying Tigers, their P-40 Tomahawks were serviced by Chinese mechanics and 200 American ground crewmen. Along with official sanction, the former Army, Navy, and Marine pilots were offered $600 per month in the promise of a bonus for every Jap plane destroyed. A few days after Pearl Harbor, the Flying Tiger first and second squadrons moved to Kunming. There, Chenault set up a fighter control headquarters, hooked into an elaborate air warning net to receive reports from Chinese aircraft spotters. The Japanese, based at Hanoi, 60 miles away, headed for Kunming to destroy the untried Tigers who had arrived only the day before. The moment the Jap flight was airborne, a sharp-eyed Chinese spotter ran to flash the warning. Crewed breadlander and semaphores sent the signal over the hills. Kunming had experienced many false alerts, but this report of heavy engine noise at Station X-10 was the real thing. Fighter control added up the enemy course and placed them 50 miles east of Kunming. This was the decisive moment. The Tigers weren't going to lose any planes on the ground. Kunming wasn't going to be another Pearl Harbor or Clark Field. Japs were about to feel the fight of these razor-teeth Tiger sharks, terrifying emblem of the Flying Tigers. And so, American pilots in American planes aided by a primitive Chinese warning system were about to tackle a formation of the Imperial Japanese Air Force, which was then victoriously sweeping the Pacific skies. Part of the fate of China was riding in the P-40 cockpits as Robert Sandell's first squad made contact with the enemy. After losing 60% of their force in this one fight, the Japs never again tried to bomb Kunming. Sinald's handful of Flying Tigers were our only fighting airmen in China. And like the Lafayette Eskidrill in World War I, they made us proud. But for global war, we needed men, thousands of skilled men. Some had to become bombardiers and learn the intricacies of complex gadgets like the secret bomb sites. Working mock-ups, machine guns mounted on platforms and trucks, trained gunners to draw a bead on a flashing target. Then the training took to the skies. Behind each gun was a man, and behind each man was months of training. The lives of a crew were going to depend on the accuracy of the gunner. By February 1942, tail guns were filling the blind spot that lost us Colin Kelly. The Axis took ten years to build their air forces. America had to do it in one, and at the same time, hold off the enemy. On the President's order, the bitter taste of war was returned to Japan. We fashioned a daring ski. To have the Hornet launch a force of bombers and strike at Tokyo from the sea. All the volunteers for this secret and hazardous job had been specially trained by Colonel Jimmy Doolittle. While under destroyer escort, the 80 Tokyo Raiders held a deck ceremony with Japanese medals. Doolittle fastened one of these to a 500-pound bomb. The medals were going to be returned with interest. Bashed to the flight deck, the 16 B-25s had a rough voyage. Hoping to reach a takeoff point 450 miles from Japan, but ready to start in event of discovery, the crews kept fit. They were discovered. After avoiding two enemy patrol vessels, the task force realized they were sighted by a Japanese picket boat. The Hornet's escort promptly sank. Since secrecy had been compromised and fearing an alarm all over Japan, Doolittle, forced into the decision, ordered the planes to be launched. This was 800 instead of 450 miles from Tokyo, and 10 hours earlier than planned. In spite of the last second change, preparations went according to rehearsal. Only 467 feet of clear deck faced Doolittle's lead ship. The rest barely had room in which to rev up, and the last plane hung precariously out over the stern of the Hornet. After the wind up by the flight officer, Doolittle made his run down the punching deck. With 100 feet to spare, he led the parade. Attention eased a little once the colonel was in the air. Crewmen cheered as one plane after another screamed down the swaying runway. This pilot started without lowering his flaps. His plane ran off the deck, dropped sharply, but expert piloting saved him. Launching fully loaded medium bombers had never been done before. When the decks of the flagship were cleared, Admiral Halsey signaled to Colonel Doolittle and his gallant command, good luck, and God bless you. Tokyo, oddly enough, had just completed an air raid drill. Their patrol boat had warned the city, but the attack was expected the next day. Therefore, the Jap war machine rolled on, unmindful of the approaching eagles. Target factories were turning out punitions tagged for Corregidor, Midway, and Dutch Harbor. Secured behind their Pacific fortress and confident of an early victory, they discounted America's ability to fight back. Thus, the bombers were virtually unopposed as they flew on the deck. They swept in over the coast on their way to Tokyo. Elements separated and some climbed to 1,500 feet with a bombing. At 1,215, the attack was opened by Doolittle, who dove in before he unloaded his incendiaries upon the Japanese capital. One after another, they checked off their targets. Tank factories, shipyards, docks, railroad yards, steel plant, gunpowder factory. As the raiders left Tokyo with a broad trail of flame and smoke in their wake, Japan tasted war. The raid was but an omen of the eventual destruction to be heaped on Japan from the skies. As Doolittle later promised, we're going back to Tokyo and we shall go in full array with mighty allies. To be continued...