Gordon E. Douglass by Ricky Butler
Gordon Douglass joined the US Navy in July 1940, when he was 22. He served in the Pacific at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. His first ship, the USS Oklahoma was sunk on December 7, 1941 during the surprise attack by the Japanese. He was attending church in Honolulu at the time of the attack so his life was spared. Of 81 men in his division, 47 were killed during that attack.
His job and responsibility was as a Navy Communications Watch Officer. The conflicts Mr. Douglass was involved in were: Pearl Harbor, Marcus Islands, Wake Island, Marshal, Tokyo's Doolittle bombers, Midway Island, Invasion of Guadalcanal, Santa Cruse Battle and the Battle of Russell Island.
Gordon Douglass was an officer in the Navy assigned to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise. Douglass was at sea with a battle group formed around the Enterprise when it met up with a task force formed around the carrier Hornet, a ship that carried surprising cargo.
"I was in my coding room assignment when an Ensign came in and said to go topside. I ran up and saw 16 B-25 bombers on the Hornet's flight deck. It looked strange." Task Force 16 headed to sea under the command of Admiral William "Bull" Halsey and was shrouded in secrecy. No one knew what 16 army bombers were doing on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
At sea, Halsey broke the silence. Douglass was in the wardroom when he heard an intercom announcement from a distant part of the ship. He ran down the passage way to hear Halsey's dramatic announcement: "You may wonder why Army planes are aboard a Navy carrier. Well, Col. Jimmy Doolittle is aboard the Hornet. As you may know, Col. Doolittle has received medals and citations from many kings, presidents and heads of state. Some of these medals were given to him by Emperor Hirohito of Japan. . . . Col. Doolittle has attached his medals to the nose of several 1000 pound bombs and is going to personally drop the medals right into the lap of Hirohito." Douglass and the crew of the Enterprise exploded into wild cheers.
Douglass watched them launch the Doolittle raid, on of the most daring military operations in U.S. History.
Task Force 16 traveled for five days. On April 18 the task force came close to disaster. A Japanese fishing boat doing double duty as picket, spotted an American scout plane. In a half hour, 924 shells were fired before the little boat got so scared that it "tipped over and died of fright."
Fearing the secrecy of the mission had been compromised, Halsey sent a message to Doolittle on the Hornet: "To Col. Doolittle and his gallant command. Good luck and God bless you." The USS Hornet turned into the wind and 16 B-25s took off, loaded with some of the bravest men God ever put on earth.
The task completed, the carriers turned and headed for home. "Our biggest fears were submarines, but the weather was so bad the subs could not attack us anyway."
The raiders flew low, skimming just above the waves. Thirteen planes hit Tokyo. Others attack Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe with incendiary bombs. The raiders themselves paid a terrible price. One plane made it to Russia and landed safely. Others, including Doolittle himself, made it to unoccupied China. Five men, however, were killed parachuting from their planes after their fuel had run out. Eight others were taken prisoners. Five would spend all but 70 days of the war in solitary confinement.
I would like to thank Gordon Douglass for letting me interview him and for the wonderful story he let me print.
-Ricky Butler
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