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Article audio is made possible by CAST11 Prescott Podcast Network. A Talking Glass Media production.
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It was just 80 years ago today, April 18, 1942, when the United States struck back at the Japanese Empire. It had been just over four months since the Attack on Pearl Harbor and a string of uninterrupted victories for Japan, it was time for the Americans to prove they were not beaten.
Jimmy Doolittle, an Aviation Legend and now a Lieutenant Colonel in the USAAF came up with a plan to bomb Tokyo, a mission he would personally lead. 16 B-25 Medium Bombers were loaded on the newest Aircraft Carrier of the US Navy, the USS Hornet. They would sail as close to the Japanese mainland as possible, take off and bomb their targets and continue on to China.
Fearing they had been detected the planes took off early, Doolittle first, leading the way. The Japanese were taken by surprise and even though the damage inflicted was minimal the results were enormous. Not only was it a major propaganda victory and moral booster for the American People but the Japanese would overreact and their four months of defeating the Military Forces of the United States at every turn would soon come to an end as they became more carless and reckless trying to erase the shame of letting an enemy bomb their homeland.
What was happening yesterday, on April 17th?
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