It’s one of the most iconic events of the “Greatest Generation”

But, will Kentucky’s public school students ever learn about it?

Seventy-nine years ago on April 18, 1942, a brave group of 80 American Army Air Corps pilots took off on what would become one of the most iconic events of World War II, the famous Doolittle Raid on the Japanese home islands.

Up to this event, World War II had gone extremely badly for the United States and its allies. On December 7, 1941, just four months earlier, the Japanese had launched a sneak attack on major US military installations in the Hawaiian Islands, sinking numerous mainline warships, destroying dozens of aircraft, and killing over 2,400 American military personnel and civilians.

The attack plunged the United States into the already raging world war.

After the attack at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese went on a rampage across the Pacific, seizing a massive amount of territory ranging from Singapore to the Philippines while the badly wounded US Pacific Fleet had to stand by, virtually powerless to respond.

By April of 1942, US morale was sinking almost as fast as the battleships had gone to the bottom at Pearl Harbor. President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew the country needed to strike back in a way that would shock the Japanese while encouraging his countrymen that there was indeed hope. Roosevelt was looking for an attack on the Japanese home islands.

But, none of the Navy’s carrier aircraft had anything close to adequate range to hit that target without placing the carriers too close to the danger of a counter-attack. And, in early 1942 the US had precious few carriers. A miracle was needed.

A glimmer of hope involved some tests with Army B-25 aircraft and an aircraft carrier in the Atlantic off Norfolk, Virginia. But, those aircraft had been lightly loaded. No one had ever launched a fully loaded B-25 from a carrier. So, many unanswered questions remained.

The man selected to answer those questions was a superb choice, one of the best know pilots in the world. He was Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, USAAF. Doolittle, a former Army Air Corp test pilot, was world famous for winning the Schneider air race in 1925 and the Thompson Trophy in 1932 as well as conducting some of the first experiments in instrument flying that lead to the ability to safely operate aircraft in clouds.

Doolittle brought even more talent to the table. He could also properly be addressed as Dr. James H. Doolittle because he had an earned doctorate in Aeronautics, the first one ever awarded by MIT.

It was a perfect blend of fame, talent and intellect.

And, it worked.

Under Doolittle’s guiding hand, the Army and Navy collectively learned how to launch fully loaded B-25 aircraft from an aircraft carrier, and the Doolittle Raid was on.

And, it had consequences.

While the raid itself didn’t cause much material damage, its success ran a stake through the heart of senior Japanese military officers. As reported by the Naval History and Heritage Command: 

“…the effect of the air raid on the Japanese capital itself was enormous. Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku’s fear of a U.S. carrier strike against the homeland, deemed “unreasonable” by the Naval General Staff, had occurred unimpeded. The Halsey-Doolittle Raid dissolved the “residual doubts” harbored within the Naval General Staff whether or not a thrust against the important U.S. advanced naval base at Midway, an important element in Yamamoto’s plan to draw out the hitherto unengaged U.S. carriers, should be attempted. The Japanese army, hitherto reluctant about the enterprise, went along with the navy’s plan.”

The attack on Midway would prove disastrous for the Japanese. All four heavy aircraft carriers of the Japanese Imperial Navy assigned to the attack were sunk by American aircraft, and the invasion fleet, now totally lacking air cover, was forced to retreat. The battle started to right the serious imbalance in Japanese and American naval forces in the Pacific caused by Pearl Harbor, a trend that would continue to the detriment of the Japanese up to their eventual surrender in 1945.

Thus, the importance of the Doolittle Raid far outstrips the limited damage it caused. It’s no surprise that the raid has been heavily honored ever since, including a Hollywood epic about the raid titled “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” and important segments devoted to the raid in other films such as “Pearl Harbor” from 2001 and both versions of the movies titled “Midway” (1976 and 2019).

So, the raid that occurred 79 years ago was important, and Kentucky’s students should learn about it.

But, I am not sure that is happening.

You see, Kentucky’s current public school social studies standards give short shrift to just about everything the Greatest Generation accomplished.  

In fact, World War II is hardly mentioned at all. The only specific standard involving the war is an extremely broad high school standard, which says:

“HS.UH.CO.3  Analyze the role of the United States in global compromises and conflicts between 1890-1945 in the Spanish American War, World War I, the Interwar years and World War II.”

That’s it. That is essentially all that is said about what to cover regarding World War II.

There is no way to tell what schools will actually teach about the important events lived by the Greatest Generation, including serious omissions of such things as Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Coral Sea, Midway, the Philippines, D-Day and so forth. It is a huge slam for all those brave Americans who served, and too often lost their lives, defending our country. When it comes to coverage of important material like this and a lot more, the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies are a huge bomb, and a dud, at that.

If you think Kentucky’s students deserve better, let your legislators know. At any time, Kentucky’s legislators can pull the regulation that adopted these terrible standards, find it deficient, and send the standards back to the Kentucky Board of Education for more work. If you really want to honor the Greatest Generation and its members like Gen. Doolittle, it’s the least you should do.

By the way, there is also a book about General Doolittle:

Doolittle, James H., General and Glines, Carroll V., “I Could Never Be So Lucky Again,” Bantom Books, New York, New York, © 1991.

It’s an interesting read.