James M. Scott > Quotes

“The Japanese Navy not only outgunned American forces in the Pacific but proved more powerful in that ocean than the combined navies of the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands.”
― James M. Scott, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

“for 2,600 years no invader had ever touched Japan.”
― James M. Scott, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

“Our new assignment will probably place us under fire, not only from submarines, but from aircraft and surface ships,” he warned. “Be fully prepared to go into action TO WIN. Knowledge of your job and careful performance of small duties become more important than ever.”
― James M. Scott, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

“One of the pilots asked what Doolittle would do if his plane were hit. “Each pilot must decide for himself what he will do and what he’ll tell his crew to do if that happens,” he answered. “I know what I’m going to do.” A silence hung over the men before the pilot asked the logical follow-up. “I don’t intend to be taken prisoner,” Doolittle replied. “I’m 45 years old and have lived a full life. If my plane is crippled beyond any possibility of fighting or escape, I’m going to have my crew bail out and then I’m going to dive my B-25 into the best military target I can find. You fellows are all younger and have a long life ahead of you. I don’t expect any of the rest of you to do what I intend to do.”
― James M. Scott, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

“Doolittle wrote. “Every boy should learn how to win graciously and lose courageously.”
― James M. Scott, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

“control. The Japanese public had soaked it up. A pile of fan mail nearly a foot high landed daily on the desk of Pearl Harbor attack architect Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, while after the capture of Singapore thousands of adoring subjects serenaded the emperor with shouts of “banzai.” Residents couldn’t thumb through a newspaper or tune in”
― James M. Scott, Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb

“To the enemy we answer—you have unsheathed the sword, and by it you shall die. —SENATOR ARTHUR VANDENBERG, DECEMBER 8, 1941”
― James M. Scott, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

“warrior, Yamamoto had two fingers on his left hand blown off in the Russo-Japanese War. He had warned that America would never give up Guadalcanal—and months of combat had proven him right. Malnourished Japanese troops wracked by swollen joints and chronic diarrhea struggled to survive on what many called “Starvation Island.” The muddy war of attrition led Yamamoto to view Guadalcanal as a symbol of Japan’s folly when it had sided with Germany and Italy. America’s resolve in the end proved stronger. No one battle would crown the victor at Guadalcanal. Japan simply gave up. With starvation claiming more than 100 lives each day, enemy leaders decided the island warranted no more bloodletting. Under the cover of darkness, Japan evacuated its forces. The six-month campaign had cost the United States more than 400 planes and two dozen warships, including two carriers, eight cruisers, and fourteen”
― James M. Scott, The War Below: The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan

“Down to the surface we went, mouths like glue, eyes wide open, and the target in sight.”
― James M. Scott, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

“They spent their lives in preparation for a supreme moment—and then were asleep when it came.”
― James M. Scott, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

“I tried to invent new stunts and realized there was a similarity between aerobatics in the air and acrobatics on the ground in that you mentally previewed a maneuver,” he wrote. “If you failed, you tried it again and again until you mastered it.” Doolittle pushed himself and his airplane to the limit, much to the frustration of his commanding officers, a reaction captured in an early efficiency report.”
― James M. Scott, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

“The Tokyo that Doolittle now set his sights on—much like the city destroyed nineteen years earlier—consisted of 98 percent wood and paper.”
― James M. Scott, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor