Hawaii Twentyten

The Doolittle Raid and Operation Tomodachi: When enemies become friends

69 years ago US military forces entered Japanese airspace at the Eastern shore of Honshu to bomb Tokyo. 69 years later US military forces off of the Northeastern coast of Honshu are in support of Operation Tomodachi. Former enemy nations now are friends.

Read the touching firsthand account by the pilot of aircraft #13 on the Doolittle Raid off the Hornet Lt. Edgar “Mac” Mc Elroy “Aircraft #13 on the Doolittle Raid” on the Pacific Aviation Museum’s blog.

On Sunday, April 14, we met up with Admiral Bull Halsey’s task force just out of Hawaii and joined into one big force. The carrier Enterprise was now with us, another two heavy cruisers, four more destroyers an another oiler. We were designated as Task Force 16. It was quite an impressive sight to see, and represented the bulk of what was left of the U.S. Navy after the devastation of Pearl Harbor. There were over 10,000 Navy personnel sailing into harm’s way, just to deliver us sixteen Army planes to Japan, orders of the President.

Watch the images from Operation Tomodachi by USS Blue Ridge:

Images from Operation Tomodachi from USS Blue Ridge on Vimeo.

Images from US military forces off of the Northeastern coast of Honshu in support of Operation Tomodachi.
Photos by Lt. K. Madison Carter, MC1 Anthony Hayes and MC1 Josh Huebner
Video by MC1 Josh Huebner