DOOLITTLE RAIDERS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH CO-SIGNED BY: DAVID J. THATCHER, COLONEL WILLIAM M. "BILL" BOWER, COLONEL RICHARD E. COLE, MAJOR GENERAL DAVY (DAVID M.) JONES, MAJOR THOMAS C. GRIFFIN, CAPTAIN CHARLES J. OZUK - HFSID 276457

DOOLITTLE'S RAIDERS: RICHARD E. COLE, DAVY JONES, TOM GRIFFIN, DAVID THATCHER, CHARLES OZUK and BILL BOWER
Large, 11x14, photograph of Jimmy Doolittle and a recruiting poster for his famous Raiders signed by six of the 80 men who made the raid over Japan in 1942.
Photograph signed: "RE Cole", "Davy Jones/[paraph]", "Tom Griffin", "David J. Thatcher", "#3/Charles J. Ozuk" and "Bill Bower". B/w, 11x14. Depicts Jimmy Doolittle standing by a recruiting poster for his famous Raiders. The poster promises an "All Expenses Paid" trip to Japan. Signatures of six of the 80 men who took off in 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers from the U.S.S. Hornet for a daring raid over Japan on April 18, 1942. Led by James "Jimmy" Doolittle, the raid, which marked the first time fully loaded bombers took off from an aircraft carrier, was in retaliation for Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. "Doolittle's Raiders" hit targets in Tokyo, Yokohama and other cities and scored a huge victory for U.S. morale at a time when Japan's position in the Pacific seemed impregnable. Although it inflicted little physical damage on Japan, Doolittle's raid was a huge morale booster for the American people, who had been hearing of one defeat after another since Japan's commenced the Pacific phase of WWII, from Pearl Harbor to the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines (April 8, 1942). Miraculously, 72 of the 80 crew members survived, four dying on the mission and four more in Japanese captivity. In addition to the morale boost, the raid had strategic significance, solidifying support among Japanese military planners for Admiral Yamamoto's ultimately disastrous attack on Midway Island in the central Pacific. Minor surface creases (not evident head on). Fine condition.