Found something decent about that university in Columbia, SC

Oct 21, 2016, 10:44 PM

Yesterday I was reading about the World War II Doolittle Raid over Tokyo:

Born: William Glover Farrow on 24 September 1918 in Darlington, South Carolina
Died: 15 October 1942 (aged 24) in Shanghai, China
Cause of death: Execution by Japanese firing squad
Resting place: Arlington National Cemetery
Nationality: American
Alma mater: University of South Carolina
Occupation: Lieutenant (Pilot of B-25 named "Bat Out of Hell")
Known for: Participant in the Doolittle Raid
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Prisoner of War Medal, Chinese Breast Order of Pao Ting

The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, on Saturday, April 18, 1942, was an air raid by the United States of America on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on the island of Honshu during World War II, the first air strike to strike the Japanese Home Islands. It demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, served as retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, December 7, 1941, and provided an important boost to American morale. The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle of the United States Army Air Forces.

Sixteen B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched without fighter escort from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet deep in the Western Pacific Ocean, each with a crew of five men. The plan called for them to bomb military targets in Japan, and to continue westward to land in China—landing a medium bomber on Hornet was impossible. Fifteen aircraft reached China, but all crashed, while the 16th landed at Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. All but three of the 80 crew members initially survived the mission. Eight airmen were captured by the Japanese Army in China; three of those were later executed. The B-25 that landed in the Soviet Union was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year. Fourteen complete crews, except for one crewman who was killed in action, returned either to the United States or to American forces.

After the raid, the Japanese Imperial Army conducted a massive sweep through the eastern coastal provinces of China, in an operation now known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, searching for the surviving American airmen and inflicting retribution on the Chinese who aided them, in an effort to prevent this part of China from being used again for an attack on Japan.

The raid caused negligible material damage to Japan, but it achieved its goal of raising American morale and casting doubt in Japan on the ability of its military leaders to defend their home islands. It also contributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's decision to attack Midway Island in the Central Pacific—an attack that turned into a decisive strategic defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) by the U.S. Navy in the Battle of Midway. Doolittle, who initially believed that the loss of all his aircraft would lead to his court-martial, received the Medal of Honor and was promoted two steps to brigadier general.

Sixteen hours after departure from the Hornet, the aircraft's fuel exhausted, Farrow and his crew bailed out near Japanese-controlled Nanchang, China. The Japanese captured Farrow and all members of his crew, and subjected them to imprisonment, interrogation, and torture. The men were subsequently tried and sentenced to death. Most of the crew members' sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by the Emperor of Japan, but the sentences of three men, including Farrow, stood. The night before their execution, the men were permitted to write final letters. The International Red Cross was to mail the letters after receiving them from the Japanese. The Japanese, however, did not pass on the letters, and they were never mailed. Farrow wrote letters to his mother and to a friend, Lt. Ivan Ferguson. In the letter addressed to his mother, Farrow wrote:

You have given much, so much more to me than I have returned, but such is the Christian way. You are and always will be a real angel. Be brave and strong for my sake. I love you, Mom, from the depths of a full heart...Don't let this get you down. Just remember God will make everything right and that I'll see you all again in the hereafter...So let me implore you to keep your chin up. Be brave and strong for my sake. P.S. My insurance policy is in my bag in a small tent in Columbia. Read Thanatopsis by Bryant if you want to know how I am taking this. My faith in God is complete, so I am unafraid.

At dawn on 15 October, the men were taken to a public cemetery near Shanghai, where they were shot by a Japanese firing squad. Following the bodies' cremation, the ashes were taken to a mortuary. After the war ended, the men's ashes were recovered and their letters found in a secret file of the War Ministry Building in Tokyo. In 1946, Farrow was interred with honors at the Arlington National Cemetery, Section 12, Grave 157.

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Found something decent about that university in Columbia, SC

ThX...Salute

Great one ,Thanks for sharing. What an American***

thanks. Great Story!***

Yes, thank you very much***

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