On April 18th, let’s remember the Doolittle Raiders’ attack on Japan on that day in 1942. Maine’s Houlton High School graduate Waldo J. Bither served as a bombardier on crew 12. Bither was the lone Maine native to serve with the Doolittle Raiders. Then a technical sergeant, Bither at 35, was the oldest member of Lt. Col. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle’s Raiders.
In February 1942, Sergeant Bither was one of 140 volunteers who answered Colonel Doolittle’s call for airmen to participate in a “secret and dangerous” mission. Intense training took place at Fort Jackson, SC and Eglin Air Field, FL. Doolittle selected Bither and 78 others for the mission.
In his 17th year of military service, Bither and the rest of the Raiders did not find out about their mission until just prior to boarding the USS Hornet in California, Doolittle announced to his 16-5-man B-25 crews that they would be bombing Japan. Weather conditions in the Pacific forced the airmen to launch further out from Japan than planned. Each Raider knew that they would not have enough fuel to return to the Hornet.
Crew 12 took off about 48 minutes after Colonel Doolittle’s B-25 flew from the Hornet. Bither’s crew bombed a refinery, two factories, and a warehouse along the dock at Yokohama. Low on fuel, the five crew members bailed out over China where local citizens helped rescue them. Following the attack on Japan, Bither returned to the United States, earned a commission as a 2nd lieutenant and served as a maintenance officer in the European Theater of Operations for the remainder of World War II.
After the war, Bither held assignments ironically, in Japan, and in the United States. He retired from the Air Force in 1954 after 29 years in the armed forces. Bither held the rank of major. Bither died in Texas in 1988 at the age of 81. His awards and decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and the Bronze Star Medal. He earned the DFC for his actions during the bombardment of Japan. Bither’s citation reads:
“For extraordinary achievement while participating in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland on April 18, 1942. Sergeant Bither volunteered for this mission knowing full well that the chances of survival were extremely remote, and executed his part in it with great skill and daring.”
Bither, the second of eight children, was born in Linneus in 1906. After graduating from Houlton High School, Bither attended Ricker Classical Institute in Houlton. In 1925, Bither joined the United States Army on January 27, 1925. He Served in the Coastal Artillery in the Philippines from 1925 until 1928. Bither then transferred to the Army Air Corps. In the Air Corps, Bither was trained as an armorer and bombardier-navigator.
We cannot forget the significance of the attack on Japan. The bombing of Japan by Bither and his fellow Raiders jolted the enemy’s military. The Tokyo raid began America’s comeback from Pearl Harbor. Throughout 1942, America’s military ramped up its force and manufacturers switched from making consumer goods to building armaments for war. On April 18th, let’s remember the heroism of the Doolittle Raiders. More importantly, let’s teach young students the story of a Houlton High School alumnus and his fellow brave airmen who achieved the first major American success story of World War II.
Alan Mesches
Frisco, Texas
Alan E. Mesches retired from a sales and marketing career. Now a writer in Frisco TX, he wrote The Flying Grunt, the Story of Lieutenant General Richard E. Carey United States Marine Corps (Ret) and Major General James A. Ulio; How the Adjutant General of the U.S. Army Enabled Allied Victory.
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