What Happened to the Doolittle Raiders? The Story Continues

by Cindy Stewart

If you missed the background story of the Doolittle Raiders shared in November, you can access it at "What Happened to the Doolittle Raiders?" Last month, I blogged about the crash landing of the Ruptured Duck (Plane #7) and the safe landing of Plane #15 in the ocean off the coast of China in "A Doolittle Raid Adventure." The Ruptured Duck was cruising at 110 miles an hour when it ran out of fuel and dipped into high waves which brought the plane to an abrupt halt. Four of the crew members ejected through the windshield and nose cone of the plane. The fifth crew member escaped from the upside down aircraft with minor injuries. Both planes landed in territory controlled by the Japanese, and both planes had successfully bombed the Japanese mainland several hours earlier.

Yokosuka Japanese Naval Base Taken from a B-25 Bomber during the Doolittle Raid
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.

Pilot Ted Lawson landed underwater, but upright in the sand, still buckled into his pilot’s seat. He didn’t feel trapped and didn't fight for air but thought about his wife and mother and wished he’d left them money. He unbuckled his seat belt and floated to the surface but was temporarily paralyzed and couldn’t swim. The waves carried him one hundred feet to the shore where he discovered the extent of his injuries. His teeth were bent in, and when he tried to straighten them, they broke off. His lower lip was torn down to the cleft of his chin, and his left arm was destroyed. His whole left leg was sliced wide open, exposing the bone.

The impact had pulled both of Navigator Mac McClure’s arms out of their sockets and left them swollen from his shoulders to his wrists. He was unable to use his arms to swim but kicked and hurled his body to shore and crawled onto the beach. Blood poured from bombardier Bob Clever’s head and face from a serious gash and deep cuts. Half of his hair had been stripped away, and he could only crawl on his hands and knees because of back and hip sprains. Co-pilot Dean Davenport had deep cuts on his lower right leg and was unable to walk.

The Crew of the Ruptured Duck: McClure, Lawson, Clever, Davenport, Thatcher
Courtesy of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Public Domain.

Gunner Dave Thatcher spotted two Chinese fishermen on a ridge above the beach but thought they were Japanese soldiers. Mac McClure stopped Thatcher from shooting the men, and once he put his gun away, eight of the fisherman came down to the beach and led the fliers to a shack about a half mile away. Clever crawled the whole distance. The men shivered in their wet clothes, and the Chinese peasants gave them quilts to wrap around themselves and mud-encrusted bamboo mats to rest on. The airmen tried to communicate with their benefactors but the language barrier prevailed.

A Chinese man who appeared to hold power over the others appeared in the shack and studied the airmen's insignia. He turned to Captain Lawson and introduced himself as “Charlie.” His English was extremely limited, but he pointed at them and said “Melican.” He promised to return for them and repeatedly said, “Boat.” Dave Thacker returned to the beach the next morning and dove around the plane, seeking more of their medical kits but couldn’t locate them. He heard a motor and spotted a Japanese patrol boat in the distance. The Japanese had discovered the presence of the Doolittle Raiders.

Chinese Junks by Lai Afong. Courtesy of Wikipedia. Public Domain

Charlie returned to the shack the next morning with a dozen helpers who constructed litters and carried the wounded airmen to a Chinese guerrilla camp. Armed guerrillas carried the men through villages, across fields, onto a flat-bottomed boat, and down a muddy canal. A new group of peasants met the boat and carried the wounded men straight up a windy hillside trail and down to the shore where a Chinese junk was waiting to take them to the mainland (they had landed on an island). Before reaching the junk, the litter bearers dumped the Raiders in a ditch. A Japanese gunboat appeared and the soldiers questioned the men on the junk. The Americans were very impressed that the Chinese never gave them up to the Japanese. 

Chinese Carry Doolittle's Raiders to Safety
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.

After landing on the mainland, the Raiders were taken to a China Relief station.  Young Doctor Chen and his helpers awaited the airmen. They’d "run all night from their hospital in Linhai, twenty-six miles away, with sedan chairs, ready to immediately carry the Americans back to relative safety.” The local Chinese soldiers, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts stood at attention and saluted the wounded Raiders as they were carried out of town. Doctor Chen’s father, as well as an English missionary couple, a young Australian nurse, and other volunteer nurses manned the hospital at Linhai. The facility only had a little chloroform, an antiseptic fluid, and bandage left. The men were badly injured, their wounds had become infected, and Lawson could only eat and drink through a slit in his mouth. His leg had turned a horrible color and was swollen from the ankles to the groin.

The Crew of Plane #15: Sessler, Smith, White, Williams, Saylor
Courtesy of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Public Domain.

Meanwhile, the airmen of Plane #15 (no nickname), which had made a smooth landing in the ocean off another island, abandoned their useless raft and swam through the crashing waves to the shore. They climbed cliffs surrounding the beach, spotted a light in the distance, and came upon a small house and covered goat pen. The light was extinguished, and no one answered the door. The Raiders attempted to settle in the goat pen for the night, but the owner emerged from the house and brought them inside and provided a meal. The airmen were two feet taller than their host. The local Chinese peasants arrived, but no one was able to communicate until some children brought a book with pictures and English translations, which proved to be invaluable. The men learned they were on the only island in the vicinity that didn’t have its own Japanese patrol. "Friends of the Chinese family with the goats sailed the crew to a neighboring island and handed them over to . . . the guerrilla band led by Charlie."  

On April 25^th, seven days after “The Ruptured Duck’s” crash landing, the crew members of Plane #15 arrived at the hospital in Linhai. The plane’s gunner, Doc White, was the only medical doctor among the eighty Doolittle Raiders, and he carried two tubes of morphine with him. He saved Captain Lawson's life.

Check back on the first of next month for another story about the Doolittle Raiders. 

*******

Source:  The First Heroes: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raid—America’s First World War II Victory by Craig Nelson (Viking, 2002)

*******

Cindy Stewart, a high school social studies and language arts teacher, church pianist, and inspirational historical fiction author, semifinaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s 2017 Genesis contest, and won ACFW’s 2014 First Impressions writing contest in the historical category. Cindy is passionate about revealing God’s handiwork in history. She resides in North Georgia with her college sweetheart and husband of thirty-six years and near her married daughter, son-in-law, and three adorable grandchildren. She’s currently writing a fiction series set in WWII Europe.

Four Ways Pioneers Stayed Warm in Cold Weather

I'm sitting in my kitchen with my coat on, hood up, a blanket on my lap and gloves on, trying to stay warm while workmen replace our sliding door and several windows--in January. I'm super thankful there's no snow and that the temps have risen to a tolerable 49 from the low teens we had last week. 

I was contemplating what to write about for my blog post this month and got to wondering how the pioneers kept warm when so many of them had so little. As a historical writer whose mind is often focused on the late 1800's, I'm tend to compare life now to how they lived back then. 

 

Sure glad there aren't mosquitos this time of year.

We live in our comfortable homes with heat and air, and if we get cold, all we have to do is crank up the temperature. Pioneers could always throw another log or buffalo chip on the fire, but first, they had to find the wood and chop it or travel long distances to collect buffalo chips. Being unprepared brought disaster on many families. 

Early pioneer cabins were generally small, which made for less area to heat. Log cabins averaged 16 feet by 18 feet with seven horizontal logs high. In colder climates, the dirt floor would freeze in the winter, and the woman would often stand on a block of wood while she did household chores. It makes you wonder what she did with her crawling babies, doesn't it?

In bitter conditions, some people stayed in bed as much as possible in order simply to stay warm. “Cabin fever” was widespread during long snowstorms. One diary entry states that a man suffered a frozen big toe when it poked out of the covers one winter night. 

The cabin’s fireplace was the center of attention in the home and created warmth when a person was close, but it did little to heat the corners of the home. Larger homes had a fireplace or woodstove in each room. In the evening, people would sit around the fire, talking and working on small tasks and hand-crafted items.

There are four main ways that people stayed warm in earlier times:

1. Heavy bedding and thick curtains.

Down comforters allowed families to sleep in comfort with their body heat held in by the covers. Beds were piled high with quilts and comforters in an attempt to keep warm. Children often sleep several to a bed to help them all stay warm. Heavy night clothing gave them an additional layer of insulation against the cold, and most people slept with stocking caps to keep from losing heat through the top of their heads.

Bed curtains were an added source of warmth in cold weather. The extra layer of fabric used for the curtains would help hold a person’s body heat in the bed area.

2. Bed warmers

A covered copper or brass pan with a long handle served as a bed warmer. Holes would be punched in the lid, creating a design, and the pan was filled with heated rocks. The warmer was slid between bedding layers using the long handle before the family retired, thus warming the bed quite effectively.

3. Foot warmers

The foot warmer was similar to a bed warmer but also different. They usually consisted of a wood-framed tin box with a wire handle on it. Heated rocks were also placed inside the foot warmer. It was then placed beside the feet, under a blanket and often left there until the rocks cooled.

The most common use for foot warmers was as a heater in the family wagon when going places. Some of the more wealthy churches had boxed-in pews, and they allowed families to bring in their foot warmer and lap blankets to keep warm during the service. Many times, the foot warmer was the only heat to be found on a chilly Sunday morning.

4. Soapstones

An alternative to a bed and foot warmer was a soapstone. Soapstones would be placed in the fire to heat and use directly in the bed or wagon. They were usually wrapped in rags to prevent burns from the hot stones. Due to their mass, soapstones were often more effective than a foot warmer. The more massive the stone, the more heat it held.

I'm sure the pioneers had other creative ways to stay warm, but these four methods were most often used. I'm typing this with my coat and hood on, a blanket on my lap and gloves while the men work on our windows. Have you read a book or diary that mentioned another way people stayed warm in cold weather?

Stained Glass Mandalas contains over 50 unique designs. It also features fascinating vignettes about the history of stained glass and interesting facts about tools, technique, and the glass used in creating the colorful projects. These optically engaging patterns stimulate the brain and induce creativity.

Bestselling author Vickie McDonough grew up wanting to marry a rancher, but instead, she married a computer geek who is scared of horses. She now lives out her dreams penning romance stories about ranchers, cowboys, lawmen, and others living in the Old West. Vickie is a best-selling author of more than 45 published books and novellas, with over 1.5 million copies sold. Her novels include End of the Trail, winner of the OWFI 2013 Booksellers Best Fiction Novel Award. Song of the Prairie won the 2015 Inspirational Readers Choice Award. Gabriel’s Atonement, book 1 in the Land Rush Dreams series, placed second in the 2016 Will Rogers Medallion Award. Vickie has recently stepped into independent publishing.

HHH BOOK DAY

Shattered Memories

by Debbie Lynne Costello

The Charleston earthquake has left destruction like nothing Doctor Andrew Warwick has ever seen. On a desperate mission to find the lady who owns his heart, he frantically searches through the rubble, where he finds her injured and lifeless. After she regains consciousness, the doctor’s hopes are quickly dashed as he realizes she doesn’t remember him. Things only get worse when he discovers she believes she’s still engaged to the abusive scoundrel, Lloyd Pratt. Now Drew is on a race with the wedding clock to either help her remember or win her heart again before she marries the wrong man.

Seven Brides for Seven Texas Rangers

by Vickie McDonough and others

No One Is Too Tough to be Loved - Join seven Texas Rangers on the hunt for a menacing gang, who run straight into romances with women who foil their plans for both the job and their futures. Featuring Partners in Crime by Vickie McDonough. Micah McCullough, a Texas Ranger working undercover in the Markham gang, is tasked with guarding Laurel Underwood, a silversmith, who was kidnapped to create plates for printing counterfeit money. Laurel knows she doesn’t have the expertise. Her only option is to stall and seek escape. What will the outlaws do when they learn her secret?

Bandolero 

by Nancy J. Farrier

Yoana Armenta’s reckless behavior results in her being captured by bandoleros, Yoana fears her impulsive nature has caused irreparable disaster. Amado Castro gave a death bed promise that he intends to keep – at all costs - even if he must break a childhood vow. When his choice endangers Yoana’s life, he struggles with the decision to honor his word, or to protect Yoana, whom he has come to care for more than he could have imagined. Now as the bandoleros threaten to sell Yoana and her tía to a fate worse than death, and the rancheros want to hang Amado, they must make choices. Will they trust God, or will they do what seems right to them?

A Mother for His Family

by Susanne Dietze

Lady Helena Stanhope’s reputation is in tatters…and she’s lost any hope for a “respectable” ton marriage. An arranged union is the only solution. But once Helena weds formidable Scottish widower John Gordon, Lord Ardoch, and encounters his four mischievous children, she’s determined to help her new, ever-surprising family. Even if she’s sure love is too much to ask for. All John needs is someone to mother his admittedly unruly brood. He never imagined that beautiful Lady Helena would be a woman of irresistible spirit, caring and warmth. Or that facing down their pasts would give them so much in common. Now, as danger threatens, John will do whatever it takes to convince Helena their future together—and his love—are for always.

The Legacy Letters

by Alanna Radle Rodriquez

Seven pink envelopes, addressed in Wanda Taylor’s spiky handwriting, represented her legacy to seven people she held dear. Legacy letters—that’s what they were. A last gift, though some might call it interference. People often sought her advice and her God-given gift of discernment. But not these seven, and her heart ached for them. They were good people who loved God and their families, but she saw patterns in their lives that could harm them in the future if left unchecked. Monica was the lynch pin to the entire project. The mantle of the matriarch fit her, and everyone in the family recognized it. But she needed to learn how to let go before she could take charge.

                                      

Cheyenne Sunrise

by Janalyn Voigt

Young Irish widow Bry Brennan doesn’t want another husband to break her spirit. She ignores her fascination with Nick Laramie, her wagon train's handsome trail guide. Nick lives in an uneasy truce between the settlers and his mother’s tribe without fully fitting in among either. With no intention of dragging a woman into his troubles, he stifles his yearning for Bry. The perilous journey throws the two together, leaving Bry no choice but to trust Nick with her life. Can she also trust him with her heart?

Captive Trail

by Susan Page Davis

A girl has become a woman while in captivity. A stagecoach driver longs to take her to the home she barely remembers. Taabe Waipu flees her Comanche village. Somewhere in southern Texas her real family lives in the white world. For years she’s struggled to keep the memories from fading. She stole the horse she is riding from a dowry left outside her family's teepee. After an accident, she is left on foot, injured and exhausted. She staggers onto a road near Fort Chadbourne and collapses. On one of the first mail runs through Texas, Butterfield Overland Mail Company driver Ned Bright carries two Ursuline nuns returning to their mission station. They come across Taabe, who is nearly dead from exposure and dehydration, and take her to the mission.
With some detective work, Ned discovers Taabe Waipu's identity. He plans to reunite her with her white family, but the Comanche have other ideas. Taabe and Ned learn the true meaning of healing and restoration amid seemingly hopeless situations. This book won the Will Rogers Medallion for excellence in western fiction.

Days of Messiah

by Amber Schamel

Aaliyah's last chance at winning her husband's love is destroyed when she is banished from her home as an 'unclean' sinner.  Her husband has branded her as an adulteress and threatens to kill her if she comes near the town. Struggling to survive amidst the fear, grief and bitterness of living in a leper colony, she would give anything just to see her son again. Is God really punishing her with this disease? When rumors of a Healer from Nazareth reach the colony, Aaliyah wonders if this man could really heal her, or if He would despise her like the rest of her people. It is now that Aaliyah must make the most difficult decision of her life: risk her life to appear in public, or die a leper.

Secrets and Wishes

by Kathelen Rouser

More than fists fly after a fight between Philip and Zeke. When their widowed parents, Maggie Galloway and Thomas Harper meet they can’t seem to agree on much. But when he is deathly ill, Maggie nurses him back to health and takes his children in hand. Growing affection between them is quickly denied by both. An old beau appears offering Maggie a new opportunity. But then tragedy strikes the town and Thomas and Maggie find themselves working together to save the children of Stone Creek from a huckster’s potion. As Maggie considers leaving town, Thomas wants to offer her an alternative. Is he too late to declare his love to the angel of mercy who has captured his heart?

Hemmed in Faith 

by Martha Rogers

After her husband’s execution as a thief and murderer, Luisa Banning moves with her children to Texas and the safety of her parents’ home. On the train she meets Erik Swenson, the new doctor in town. Coming out of an abusive relationship, Luisa is reluctant to trust any man with her heart, but as Erik continues to interact with her children and her family, she begins to see that God may have had a divine plan for her life all along. When her six-year-old son breaks his arm, Erik’s tender care for him touches Luisa’s heart, but will it open the door of her heart enough to trust him with her future?  

The Planter's Daughter

by Michelle Shocklee

Adella Rose Ellis knows her father has plans for her future, but she longs for the freedom to forge her own destiny. When the son of Luther Ellis's longtime friend arrives on the plantation to work as the new overseer, Adella can't help but fall for his charm and captivating hazel eyes. But a surprise betrothal to an older man, followed by a devastating revelation, forces Adella to choose the path that will either save her family's future or endanger the lives of the people most dear to her heart. 

The Promise of Breeze Hill

by Pam Hillman

Natchez, MS; 1791

Anxious for his brothers to join him on the rugged frontier along the Mississippi River, Connor O’Shea has no choice but to indenture himself as a carpenter in exchange for their passage from Ireland. But when he’s sold to Isabella Bartholomew of Breeze Hill Plantation, Connor fears he’ll repeat past mistakes and vows not to be tempted by the lovely lady. Soon, though, Connor realizes someone is out to eliminate the Bartholomew family. Can he set aside his own feelings to keep Isabella safe? 

Daughter of Liberty

by J.M. Hochstetler

Eastertide, April 1775. In the blockaded port of Boston, Elizabeth Howard plays a dangerous game. As the infamous courier Oriole, she is hunted by the British for smuggling intelligence and munitions to the Sons of Liberty by night, while by day she flirts with British officers to gain access to information the rebels so desperately need. But she hasn’t counted on the arrival of Jonathan Carleton, an officer in the Seventeenth Light Dragoons. The attraction between them is immediate, powerful—and fought on both sides in a war of wits and words. And when Carleton wins the assignment to ferret out Oriole, Elizabeth can no longer deny that he is not only her most dangerous foe, but also the possessor of her heart. As the first blood is spilled at Lexington and Concord, Carleton fights his own private battle of faith. And headstrong Elizabeth learns the bitter consequences of following her impulsive heart when her dangerous role thrusts her into the carnage of Bunker Hill.

Oberlin was a College Ahead of It's Time

by Tamera Lynn Kraft

Oberlin College, founded in 1833 in Northern Ohio, was a college ahead of its time in many ways. In 1835, it became the first college in the United States to regularly admit African Americans. It’s also the oldest co-educational college in the US. In 1837, it admitted four women, three of whom graduated and earned a college degree. Mary Jane Patterson, another Obeberlin graduate, became the first African American woman in 1862 to earn a Bachelor of Arts college degree.

One of Oberlin’s founders once bragged that “Oberlin is peculiar in that which is good”. Oberlin was peculiar in many ways in advancing the causes of the time. Charles Finney, the second president of the college, helped it earn it's controversial reputation. He was the founder of the Second Great Awakening, a Christian revivalist movement in the early and mid 1800s.

Oberlin College was the hotbed of abolitionist activity and a stop for the Underground Railroad before the Civil War. It was once called “the town that started the Civil War” because of its participation in the Oberlin Wellington Rescue in 1858. Slave catchers came to Oberlin to capture an escaped slave and return him to Kentucky. Most of the town came to the slave’s aid and rescued him. For their trouble, over twenty were arrested and put on trial for violating the Fugitive Slave Act. During the raid on Harper’s Ferry by John Brown, three men from Oberlin participated.

Oberlin College was also well known for the women who graduated from the college and participated in the suffrage and prohibition movements. My new novel Red Sky over America is about a college student there who is involved in the abolitionist movement. Lucy Stone, considered a pioneer for the women’s movement, graduated from Oberlin College in 1847.

Oberlin was also very well known in the missionary movement of the late 1800s. Between 1860 and 1900, 90% of missionaries sent overseas by the American Missionary Society were graduates of Oberlin College. Between 1899 and 1901, thirteen missionaries from Oberlin were martyred during the Boxer Rebellion of China. An arch in Tappan Square at the center of Oberlin pays honor to their sacrifices.

Tamera Lynn Kraft has always loved adventures. She loves to write historical fiction set in the United States because there are so many stories in American history. There are strong elements of faith, romance, suspense and adventure in her stories. She has received 2^nd place in the NOCW contest, 3^rd place TARA writer’s contest, and is a finalist in the Frasier Writing Contest. Her published works include Resurrection of Hope, Alice's Notions, and Red Sky over America.  You can find out more about her on her website at http://tameralynnkraft.net.

Red Sky over America

To be released February 11th

In 1857, America, the daughter of a slave owner, is an abolitionist and a student at Oberlin College, a school known for its radical ideas. America goes home to Kentucky during school break to confront her father about freeing his slaves.

America's classmate, William, goes to Kentucky to preach abolition to churches that condone slavery. America and William find themselves in the center of the approaching storm sweeping the nation and may not make it home to Ohio or live through the struggle.