About Denver Truelove and The Doolittle Raid on Tokyo

Memorial Day was created to remind us Americans of the price paid by patriotic men and women so that you and I might live in freedom in this unique democracy of ours. Let me tell you about something that comes about at one time or another in almost every combat situation. A person steps forward and says: "I need a few good volunteers for a very dangerous but important mission." Such was the case in early 1942 when a call went out in the Army Air Force for volunteers for a highly secret and very dangerous mission. One of the volunteers who stepped forward was a Hall County boy named Denver Vernon Truelove. About all they learned about their mission while training was that it would be led by one Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle. We know now these volunteers began intensive training in twin-engine B-25 bombers, mostly learning to take off in a short distance and to hit targets with bombs from a very low altitude. In time their planes were loaded on a Navy aircraft carrier, and they learned from Colonel Doolittle that their target was to be Tokyo ... in the heart of Japan itself. They were to take off from the aircraft carrier, bomb Tokyo, and end up somewhere in China. Lt. Denver Truelove was the bombardier-navigator in plane number five over Tokyo, and his bombs scored direct hits on a power station, oil tanks, and a large manufacturing plant. After that the plane was to head for the Chinese coast. Low on fuel, with darkness closing in, plane five made land, and the entire crew bailed out. They landed safely and were greeted by friendly Chinese. Remarkably, of the 80 who flew over Tokyo on April 18, 1942, 69 eventually made it out of China. Of the 11 lost, three were killed exiting their aircraft, three were executed by the Japanese, one died of malnutrition and mistreatment in a Japanese prison, and four were repatriated at the end of the war after 40 months of captivity. A recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, Denver Truelove returned to duty and two years later was killed in action over Italy. Memorial Day is a set aside to remind us of those who have stepped forward for the dangerous missions so that you and I may live free.<br /> <br /> This is Gordon Sawyer from a window on historic Green Street.