(Plane 40-2297). Left to right: Lt. James H Macia, Jr (navigator-bombardier), Maj. John A Hilger (pilot), S/Sgt. Jacob Eierman (engineer), Lt. Jack A. Sims (co-pilot), S/Sgt. Edwin V. Bain (gunner).
Posted on 06/13/2007 9:30:29 AM PDT by lunarbicep
A former Kalamazoo man who was among the Doolittle Raiders, 80 men who led America's first air raid on Tokyo, conducted April 18, 1942, has died.
Col. Jack A. Sims, a decorated World War II veteran, died Saturday in Naples, Fla., after a long illness. He was 88.
Sims was called ``Kalamazoo's first flying hero'' in the 1940s for being among the pilots who conducted the Tokyo raid under the direction of Gen. Jimmy Doolittle. Exploits of the raiders, who flew many additional missions over Europe during World War II, served as a morale booster for the United States, according to newspaper accounts.
``I think that pretty much made him who he was. It was a defining time in his life,'' his daughter, Brigid Hansen, said of Sims' role as one of the Doolittle Raiders. Reportedly 13 are still living.
``I'm not sure he would have continued a military career if that actually hadn't happened, because he spent the rest of his career in the military,'' serving 28 years, said Hansen, who lives in Portage.
He received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Bronze Star, two Legion of Merit honors, multiple air medals and many other commendations. In 2003, he was inducted into the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame.
Hansen said her father, who graduated from Western Michigan University and spent the last 39 years in Florida, was often interviewed or asked to speak about his time as a combat pilot, including why he took part in what she said some considered ``basically a suicide mission.''
A 1942 Kalamazoo Gazette article reported that, following a visit home to Kalamazoo, ``Major Sims was sent to the African-European theater, where he completed 40 bombing missions, again under Gen. Doolittle's command. On his 40th and last mission, his B-26 bomber was struck by enemy fire in the right motor, and he barely managed to make a safe landing behind the Allied lines.''
Sims was 23 at the time of the Tokyo raid.
In a 2002 book by Sims, ``First Over Japan,'' he wrote: ``There was nothing routine about any bombing raid. Sometimes we experienced heavy flak from the ground batteries and sometimes the sky around us was `quiet.' ... Sometimes it was a `milk run' with no opposition and no casualties; other times, lots of guys got killed, hurt or bailed out and became prisoners of war.''
Hansen said she and her siblings urged Sims for years to publish his memoirs, but it was military historian Al Cook who finally convinced him to write ``First Over Japan.''
Cook, a veteran who lives in Ft. Myers, Fla., said he sat down with Sims for 39 interviews that resulted in a 105-page, spiral-bound work about Sims' life and career.
When Cook read a paragraph from the epilogue, Sims ``lost it completely,'' said Cook, who was to deliver the eulogy at Sims' funeral Wednesday in Naples.
``On the way out of the house -- I'll never forget it -- Jack was in a wheelchair. He grabbed my arm and said, `Well, we beat old father time.' I said, `Yeah, we beat him.'''
``Now, he's a man of the ages. A man of American history,'' Cook said of Sims.
After the war, Sims held such positions as executive assistant to the deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Air Force headquarters in Washington, D.C., and served a stint at the U.S. Embassy in London.
Also since the war, the raiders have gathered yearly at reunions around the country. Their numbers have dwindled, and at their 65th reunion in April, only seven or eight were present, said Hansen, who attended the gathering with her husband. Her father was too ill to attend.
Sims is survived by his wife, Lee; four children, Kimberly Staley of Atlanta, Brigid Hansen of Portage, John Sims of Richmond, Va., and Michael Sims of Kansas City, Mo.; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
God Bless him and may we remember him for his valorous service to his country in one of her darkest hours.
Another Hero goes to his well deserved rest.
However, the last two men have one more solemn duty to perform..to crack open the bottle of brandy, and have one last toast to all their comrades in arms..
Ping
A great man among great men. Rest in peace.
I read that one of the POWS from the Doolittle Raid, as badly as the Japanese treated him, stayed on in Japan after the war as a Christian missionary and among those he converted was Fuchida who led the Dive Bomber air-wing in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Although it makes sense in the context of the movie, I've always had a problem with that scene. It's those of us born post-WWII who should be asking the vets (and ourselves) if we were worth it.
These men and women have no reason whatsoever to not be proud of what they've done, regardless of the role they played. Those of us in ensuing generations are the ones who need to really evaluate what we've done to honor them by measuring our deeds against theirs.
Godspeed Colonel Sims.
The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Doolittle Raid (4/18/1942) - Apr. 18th, 2003
RIP Col. Jack A. Sims
Thanks for posting that photo of Sims and his fellow pilots.
For years, I walked through the Air Force Academy museum in Colorado Springs and stopped to look at the Dolittle goblets, to read the names, to wonder what they were thinking as they sat on the deck of a carrier waiting to take off. There is a silver goblet engraved with the name of each of the Dolittle Raiders. At each reunion, the survivors drink a toast to the departed and turn the goblets of the deceased men upside down. There are only a few standing upright now. When there are only two remaining, they will open the bottle of Cognac that has been waiting all these years, and toast the rest.
The goblets have been moved from the Academy to Ohio, I think. But they are forever etched in my mind’s eye as is a picture of the B-25s taking off from the deck of that carrier. What courageous men they were. We owe it to them to stand for the ideas of America and to keep her strong.
re your post on Private Ryan, that bit in the movie bothers me too, and when the Tom Hanks character tells the Matt Damon character to “Earn this.” What does he have to earn? He parachuted behind enemy lines with the other Airborne and was prepared to give his life fighting, and is in fact fighting the Germans back to back with Hanks, isn’t he? I mean, it’s not like he’s home in bed, and all his brothers have already sacrificed their lives for the cause. What more is he supposed to do? That whole thing never made any sense to me.
More to the point, God Save the Doolittle Raiders. 30 SECONDS OVER TOKYO was always one of my favorite books, and movies.
The scene at the end where Capt. Miller tells him to "earn this" I assumed was in regards to the effort and lives of the men who just died protecting Pvt. Ryan and insuring that he lived.
If there's anything that I have problems with is Cpl. Upham and how he suddenly found his gonads after watching the German guy kill one of his squad. That one always left me scratching my head.
WOHs ping
Indeed...I read “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” when I was in first grade. It left an impression on me that lasts until this day.
I believe they may be at the Air Force Museum. A number of the veterans of the raid spoke there last year, along with one of the Chinese civilians who helped them escape the Japanese. I have a signed drawing with 9 of their names and it is something I will always treasure.
Thoughts, prayers and thanks for his service.
Now if you want to talk hurl factor, there’s the fact that Alec Baldwin played Lt. Col. Doolittle in “Pearl Harbor”. That was a travesty. I watched a Discovery Channel or History Channel, can’t remember, show about the Doolittle raid. I highly recommend it if it ever comes back on. What a brave bunch of men.
Hand Salute....................two
Consider what this man did the next time you meet somebody 23 years old.
RIP.
Today the Dems would demand he be tried as a war criminal.
I was quite deliberate in qualifying my original remarks with, "Although it makes sense in the context of the movie...," which is also the context (I believe) in which you are evaluating it. Certainly, I agree with your remarks regarding the humility of that generation and the unseen scars and burdens many of them have no doubt quietly carried these many decades.
My remarks, I suppose, were more focused on my generation...I would have liked to see Ryan's children come to him at the Normandy cemetery and ask him, "Have we earned this?"
The pure bravery, skill and daring exhibited by the Doolitttle Raiders certainly set a standard for us to live up to. Many, no doubt, are living up to it in Iraq, Afghanistan and other unmentioned locales around the globe. They are the minority. The majority, I fear, enjoy the freedoms, but are completely oblivious of the sacrifices, and it is in this context that I think the questions "Have we lived good lives? Have we earned this?" would be far more appropriately asked by the post-WWII generations. Every time I read about the passing of a Colonel Sims or some other hero of his era, I have to ask myself, what have I done to make myself worthy of my inheritance as an American.
WOW! The kid was 15 years old.
Alec Baldwin also played the conductor in the ‘Thomas The Train’ videos. LOL
Oooops! I seen ‘80’ instead of ‘88’. Sorry
with the passing of Col. Sims this leaves only 13 survivors:
William M. Bower
Richard E. Cole
Jacob D. DeShazer
Thomas C. Griffin
Nolan Herndon
Robert L. Hite
Edwin W. Horton, Jr.
David M. Jones
Frank A. Kappeler
James H. Macia
Charles J. Ozuk
Edward J. Saylor
David J. Thatcher
Thank you for posting that picture. I miss seeing the goblets. They were a tangible connection to the men who flew that mission. It will be a sad day when the last glass is turned upside down.
If I may interject....yours is an interesting comment to me.
My wife walked in on the end of 'Saving Private Ryan' not too long ago. She visited Normandy as a teenager, and mentioned that I should plan to make a trip there, as well.
My immediate comment was that I wasn't ready to do that, yet. On further reflection, I suppose that I meant that I hadn't accomplished enough with my life to merit a trip there, just yet.
Perhaps I'll take my sons there when they're old enough to appreciate the enormity of what they're visiting. We'll see.
I’ve visited a number of renowned battlefields. The weight of history is palpable to me at such places, none moreso than Gettysburg and Normandy.
It didn’t bother me that the Matt Damon character breaks down in the cemetery, remembering the war. That’s entirely believable without the “Saving” backstory. I just found it somewhat phony that the Tom Hanks character would say “Earn this” as his dying words to Damon. Just didn’t ring true to me.
Americans flying off of American ships to bomb the enemies of the United States.
The color of their wings is irrelevant.
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium volume pinglist.
He is enjoying the great reunion now.
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