Doolittle Raid participant from New Haven. Some time ago my brother Ed showed me a page from a book that showed a roster of the young men who participated in the Doolittle raid. One of the young men was from New Haven. The Doolittle raid was our nations early, bold reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It was led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle. It consisted of 80 airmen totaling 16 crews of 5 men. All volunteered. In April, 1942, they crammed 16 B-25 Bombers onto an aircraft carrier and sent it towards Tokyo. None of the planes had enough fuel to get back to safety. They were instructed to bomb designated sites in Japan, crash land in China and make their way back to safety the best way they could. The mission was accomplished and no planes were shot down over Tokyo. A few movies have been made about the event. I have never heard any discussion of this young man before. His name was Staff Sergeant George Elmer Larkin, Jr. (He is the tall young man in the back row on the far right) He was the only Kentuckian on the mission. Staff Sergeant Larkin survived the mission and the trek out of China. He was sadly listed as KIA in Oct 1942 on a mission over India. He was first buried in India, and his remains were moved to Hawaii in the 1950s. More information about Staff Sergeant Larkin can be found at the following website. doolittleraider/raiders/larkin.htm
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 21:09:06 +0000
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