During the early 40s of last century, the evil Japanese fascists burned all over East Asia and into the Western Pacific, especially in the broad and vast land of China. In response to Japan's vicious surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States... Read more

During the early 40s of last century, the evil Japanese fascists burned all over East Asia and into the Western Pacific, especially in the broad and vast land of China. In response to Japan's vicious surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war to the Empire of Japan, plunging the U.S. fully into World War II. Sixteen U.S. Air Force B-25 bombers with eighty brave airmen accomplished their secret one-way mission of bombing Tokyo. It has been known as the Doolittle Raid or Tokyo Raid, which altered the direction of the whole Pacific war. The Empire of Japan aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific and was already at war with the Republic of China in 1937, but the world war is generally said to have begun on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom. Supplied by the Soviet Union, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. The war continued primarily between the European Axis powers and the coalition of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth, with campaigns including the North Africa and East Africa campaigns, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz bombing campaign, the Balkan Campaign as well as the long-running Battle of the Atlantic. On 22 June 1941, the European Axis powers launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the largest land theatre of war in history, which trapped the major part of the Axis' military forces into a war of attrition. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific.Following the Raid, most crewmen finally achieved safety in the crash-landing in eastern coastal provinces in mainland China, with the help of local Chinese soldiers and civilians. The Chinese people devoted their lives in saving those heroes of the United States. With a crazy and devilish revenge, the Japanese Imperial Army began the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, which killed an estimated two hundred and fifty thousand Chinese soldiers and civilians. Germ warfare was used and other atrocities were committed. Sixty four American heroes finally returned to their homeland during and after the War. Although the Doolittle Raiders hold an annual reunion in the U.S. almost every year since the late 1940s, their magnificent epic stories have been buried in the long river of history in China, especially during the Cold War years. After the icebreaking between the two east-west coasts of the Pacific Ocean, China and the United States became friends. Some of the Doolittle Raiders and their families have crossed the Ocean and the country to find and to honor those great Chinese people and their families, who once saved their lives. They also invited the representatives of those Chinese heroes to visit the Capitol Hill of the U.S. to receive their high honors from the President. Mr. Liao, an author in his eighties, spent three years to cross mountains and rivers in the coastal regions of China and in the States, searching for heroes and their descendants. Their stories are pearls of the history to be dedicated to the whole world. These noble humans and their humanistic love should never be forgotten. Among them, there are 100-year-old American pilot and ninety-five-year-old Chinese grandma. Let us listen to their stories, patiently and gratefully. Less