How many doolittle raiders were captured

They destroyed bridges, roads, and airfields. Those discovered to have helped the Doolittle raiders were tortured. In Ihwang, Ma Eng-lin, who had welcomed injured pilot Harold Watson into his home, was wrapped in a blanket, tied to a chair and soaked in kerosene.

Then soldiers forced his wife to torch him. Mitchell gathered statistics from local governments to provide a snapshot of the destruction.

They destroyed 62, homes, stole 7, head of cattle, and burned 30 percent of the crops. In what was known as land bacterial sabotage, troops would contaminate wells, rivers, and fields, hoping to sicken local villagers as well as the Chinese forces, which would no doubt move back in and reoccupy the border region as soon as the Japanese departed.

For the operation, almost pounds of paratyphoid and anthrax germs were ordered. Once in Nanking, workers transferred the bacteria to metal flasks—like those used for drinking water— and flew them into the target areas. Troops then tossed the flasks into wells, marshes, and homes. The Japanese also prepared 3, rolls, contaminated with typhoid and paratyphoid, and handed them to hungry Chinese prisoners of war, who were then released to go home and spread disease. Soldiers left another biscuits infected with typhoid near fences, under trees, and around bivouac areas to make it appear as though retreating forces had left them behind, knowing hungry locals would devour them.

The thousands of rotting human and livestock carcasses that clogged wells and littered the rubble also contaminated the drinking water. Furthermore, the impoverished region, where villagers often defecated in holes outdoors, had been prone to such outbreaks before the invasion. Anecdotal evidence gathered from missionaries and journalists shows that many Chinese fell sick from malaria, dysentery, and cholera even before the Japanese reportedly began the operation.

Chinese journalist Yang Kang, who traveled the region for the Takung Pao newspaper, visited the village of Peipo in late July. Nevertheless, 69 escaped capture or death, with only three KIA Killed in Action as a result of the loss of their aircraft. When the Chinese helped the Americans escape, the grateful Americans in turn gave them whatever they had on hand. The people who helped them paid dearly for sheltering the Americans. Eight Raiders were captured POW , but their fate was not fully known until Accounted for as KIA shortly after the raid was Cpl.

Leland D. Robert M. Gray's crew, third off—AC The citation for his posthumous DFC reported that after Faktor successfully bailed-out with the rest of his crew over mountainous terrain near Sui-Chang, Chekiang Province, China, he was killed shortly afterwards when he fell down a cliff.

The crews of two aircraft ten men in total were unaccounted for: Hallmark's crew sixth off and Farrow's crew last off. On 15 August , the United States learned from the Swiss Consulate General in Shanghai that eight of the missing crew members were prisoners of the Japanese at the city's Police Headquarters.

Two crewmen drowned after crash-landing in the ocean. On 19 October , the Japanese announced that they had tried the eight prisoners and sentenced them all to death, but said several had received commutation of their sentences to life imprisonment. No names or details were given. The story of the missing crews was revealed in February during a war crimes trial held in Shanghai to try four Japanese officers charged with mistreating the eight captured crewmen.

It was learned that two of the missing crewmen, Staff Sgt. William J. Dieter and Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, drowned when their B crashed into the sea. The other eight were captured: Lieutenants Dean E. Hallmark, Robert J. Meder, Chase Nielsen, William G. Farrow, Robert L. Spatz and Jacob DeShazer. On 28 August , pilot Hallmark, pilot Farrow, and gunner Spatz faced a war crimes trial by a Japanese court for strafing and murdering Japanese civilians. At on 15 October , they were taken by truck to Public Cemetery Number 1, and executed by firing squad.

The other captured airmen remained in military confinement on a starvation diet, their health rapidly deteriorating. In April , they were moved to Nanking, where Meder died on 1 December The remaining men, Nielsen, Hite, Barr and DeShazer, eventually began receiving slightly better treatment and were given a copy of the Bible and a few other books.

They were freed by American troops in August Four Japanese officers were tried for war crimes against the captured Doolittle Raiders, found guilty, and sentenced to hard labor, three for five years and one for nine years. DeShazer graduated from Seattle Pacific University in and returned to Japan as a missionary, where he served for over 30 years.

Hite, died March 29, Immediately following the raid, Doolittle told his crew that he believed the loss of all 16 aircraft, coupled with the relatively minor damage to targets, had rendered the attack a failure, and that he expected a court-martial upon his return to the United States.

Instead, the raid bolstered American morale to such an extent that Doolittle was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Roosevelt, and was promoted two grades to brigadier General, skipping the rank of colonel.

Grandison Gardner, the local paper of record the Okaloosa News-Journal, Crestview, Florida , while reporting his presence, made no mention of his still-secret recent training at Eglin.

Corporal David J. Thomas R. Lawson's crew to evade Japanese troops in China. All 80 Raiders received the Distinguished Flying Cross, and those who were killed or wounded during the raid also received the Purple Heart.

Every Doolittle Raider received a decoration from the Chinese government. Twenty-eight of the crewmen remained in the China Burma India theater, flying missions, most for more than a year. Five were killed in action. Nineteen crew members flew combat missions from North Africa after returning to the United States, four of whom were killed in action and four becoming prisoners of war.

Nine crew members served in the European Theater of Operations; one was killed in action. Altogether 12 of the survivors died in air crashes within 15 months of the raid. In November it deployed overseas to North Africa, where it operated in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations with the Twelfth Air Force for the remainder of the war. After the raid, the Japanese Imperial Army began the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign in order to prevent these eastern coastal provinces of China from being used again for an attack on Japan.

Potter — Bombardier: Staff Sgt. Travis Hoover — Co-Pilot: Lt. William Fitzhugh — Navigator: Lt. Carl Wildner — Bombardier: Lt. Douglas Radney — The crew bailed out over a mountainous hillside in China. One member of the crew, Cpl. Leland Faktor, died after falling down a cliff.

Charles Ozuk — Bombardier: Sgt. Aden Jones — Engineer Gunner: Cpl. Everett Holstrom — Co-Pilot: Lt. Harry McCool — Bombardier: Sgt. Robert Stephens — Engineer Gunner: Cpl. Bert Jordan — Pilot: Capt. David Jones — Co-Pilot: Lt. Rodney Wilder — Navigator: Lt. Joseph Manske — The crew bailed out off the coast of China, resulting in two crewmembers drowning. The remaining three swam to shore, were captured and interred as prisoners of war.

Ted Lawson — Co-Pilot: Lt. To get within range of Japan, the plan was to sail the carrier USS Hornet within miles of mainland Japan, launch the 16 aircraft with a crew of 80 airmen and quickly sail out of harm's way, along with the carrier Enterprise; a cruiser; eight destroyers and two oilers. However, when the task force was miles from Japan, they were spotted by a Japanese patrol vessel, which the cruiser USS Nashville, promptly sank.

However, the patrol vessel had time to radio a warning to the Japanese military, so the decision was made to launch the 16 BB's immediately and get out of the area as quickly as possible. Six hours after launch, the aircraft bombed military and industrial targets in Tokyo and other large cities on the main island of Honshu. Of the 16 planes, 15 crash-landed in China and one aircraft, which was low on fuel, landed in the Soviet Union, which was closer.

However, they all managed to escape. In total, three crew members were killed in action. Another three were executed by the Japanese, and one died in captivity. This was considered a relatively low fatality rate for such a risky mission.

Doolittle crash-landed his airplane north of Quzhou, China, in friendly territory.