On April 18, 1942 my mother was then 17 years old and working at the Bausch and Lomb factory in Rochester, New York after school. Like other factories in America, this place which made optical equipment was converted to making gas masks for the war effort. She was also worried as were the rest of her family about an uncle of mine who was in the service.
Morale was pretty low among the civilian population and in the Armed Services. Four months after Pearl Harbor and Wake Island and the Phillipines we were in a bad way. The Japanese who attacked were thousands of miles away, their naval task force roamed the Pacific at will.
Her biggest memory of the homefront during World War II was the news of the Doolittle raid over Tokyo. In terms of damage and especially with what was later done when Curtis LeMay got a lot closer, it was minimal to say the least. But the news at the homefront sent folks into rapturous delight. The enemy that had hit us had now been struck back on his home turf.
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (and that's just about all it was) came out two years later when it was decided by the powers that be in Wasington, DC that the story could be told. The film is based on the real life experience of one of the B-25 crews that Lt. Colonel James Doolittle commanded. Major Ted Lawson and the survivors of his B-25 crashed on the China shore and with the help of Chinese guerillas, managed to escape the occupying Japanese army.
These aren't World War II movie heroics, this was in fact the real deal. Van Johnson who probably typified the American Armed Service man in World War II more than any other actor, including John Wayne, gives one of his best performances as Major Lawson.
When the wartime censors lifted the ban, Lawson told his story in the pages of Collier's magazine, with Bob Considine doing the co-writing. The movie is pretty faithful to the story, making Thirty Second Over Tokyo one of the best if not the best war combat film made in Hollywood during the conflict.
Doing the guest star shot as Doolittle himself is Spencer Tracy. Jimmy Doolittle had quite a career himself and it's a pity that no one has sought to make a film of his life. Too bad also that Spencer Tracy didn't reprise the part in such a film after World War II.
Morale was pretty low among the civilian population and in the Armed Services. Four months after Pearl Harbor and Wake Island and the Phillipines we were in a bad way. The Japanese who attacked were thousands of miles away, their naval task force roamed the Pacific at will.
Her biggest memory of the homefront during World War II was the news of the Doolittle raid over Tokyo. In terms of damage and especially with what was later done when Curtis LeMay got a lot closer, it was minimal to say the least. But the news at the homefront sent folks into rapturous delight. The enemy that had hit us had now been struck back on his home turf.
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (and that's just about all it was) came out two years later when it was decided by the powers that be in Wasington, DC that the story could be told. The film is based on the real life experience of one of the B-25 crews that Lt. Colonel James Doolittle commanded. Major Ted Lawson and the survivors of his B-25 crashed on the China shore and with the help of Chinese guerillas, managed to escape the occupying Japanese army.
These aren't World War II movie heroics, this was in fact the real deal. Van Johnson who probably typified the American Armed Service man in World War II more than any other actor, including John Wayne, gives one of his best performances as Major Lawson.
When the wartime censors lifted the ban, Lawson told his story in the pages of Collier's magazine, with Bob Considine doing the co-writing. The movie is pretty faithful to the story, making Thirty Second Over Tokyo one of the best if not the best war combat film made in Hollywood during the conflict.
Doing the guest star shot as Doolittle himself is Spencer Tracy. Jimmy Doolittle had quite a career himself and it's a pity that no one has sought to make a film of his life. Too bad also that Spencer Tracy didn't reprise the part in such a film after World War II.