80 years since the Doolittle Raid struck Tokyo

BOX ELDER S.D. (KOTA) - On April 18th, 1942, the Doolittle Raid struck Tokyo in retaliation against the bombing of Pear Harbor.

Although only little damage resulted from the raid, it played a vital role in boosting American morale during WWII.

80 years later, the raid was honored at the Ellsworth Air force Base where the tail of one of their jets now displays four patches from the squadrons involved.

Painted on the other side is the B-25 flown in the raid.

It took six 12-hour days to get the tail where it’s currently at and is slated for completion by the Airshow in May.

Officials say this piece of art is to pay tribute to the Doolittle Raid and also remind them of their raider heritage at Ellsworth.

”We have to know where we come from, know our roots, understand the struggles those guys went through,” explained Airman Derrick Gregg.

”The Doolittle Radars went out, there was a one-of-a-kind mission, at the time it had never been done launching bombers off of aircraft carriers. In fact, most people didn’t think that it could be done,” Col. Derek Oakley, commander of the 28th Operations Group Ellsworth Air Force Base.

”The innovation that it took to get the idea to take aircraft off of an aircraft carrier and go strike a target set that had never been done before. We look at how they executed and try to carry forward their legacy every day,” said Lt. Col. Chris McConnell, 37th Bomb Squadron.

That same innovation is currently being seen at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum where the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) was unveiled Monday.

”It’s actually great just to have the JASSM here on display because once again, it’s just a piece of our current history, that’s now replicated here at the museum. It’s something a lot of people don’t know about, so it’s a good opportunity for people to come out here and kind of learn more about it,” explained Anthony Carbone, Wing Weapons Officer.

The JASSM was first used on April 14th, 2018 against 3 Syrian government alleged chemical weapon targets during the Syrian Civil War.

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