Eglin sends final farewell to Doolittle Raider

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Stacia Zachary
  • 96th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  A Doolittle Tokyo Raider passed away Nov. 26 from complications resulting from a car accident in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Retired Master Sgt. Ed Horton, Jr., an American who was once credited with boosting the confidence of the United States during World War II, passed away at the age of 92. 

Mr. Horton was a member of the crew who used B-25 bombers to hit targets in Japan in April 1942, a few months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Once numbering 80 crew members from the famed mission, there are only nine surviving members. 

When war came to the United States with the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Mr. Horton was on his second enlistment. He completed gun turret-maintenance, aircraft armament and aircraft mechanics schools. Upon hearing of a secret mission, he volunteered and was assigned to the No. 10 Crew as an engineer and gunner. 

The air raid mission over Tokyo, Japan, was considered a success although all 16 aircraft were lost on the mission and 11 crewmen were killed or captured. An intensive 3-week training block was conducted at Eglin Field where the crews practiced simulated carrier deck takeoffs, low-level and night flying, low altitude bombing, and over water navigation. The Doolittle Raiders would be responsible for dropping bombs over key sites in Japan and demonstrating to the Japanese that they were vulnerable to an air strike by the United States. 

Crew No. 10, Mr. Horton's aircraft, was responsible for dropping two bombs on the Japan Special Steel Company on April 18, 1942. Because the raiders had to leave the USS Hornet before it reached its final destination, there was not enough fuel on board for the aircraft to return to the USS Hornet. As with most of the aircraft, Crew No. 10 was forced to fly to China and ditch the aircraft mid-air. The survivors relied on local Chinese to help them find English missionaries. For nearly a year and a half, Mr. Horton stayed in China serving as an armament chief with the Flying Tigers. Upon coming back to the states he was assigned to varying assignments in Oklahoma and Texas and was also stationed at Wheelus Field in Libya. 

"I am not a hero. It was hard not to know (the mission) was something special," said Mr. Horton in an interview with the Air Force News Agency in May. "There were no thoughts of being heroes. We had a job to do and we did it." 

During the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Homecoming Ceremony held at Duke Field May, 21, 2008, Mr. Horton was quick to interrupt talk of being a hero as "a great experience he was lucky enough to been a part of." 

While being escorted around Duke Field during the homecoming ceremony, the former Doolittle Raider was proud to be among current enlisted Airmen. 

"Being a part of the Doolittle Raiders was a thrill, even at the time we knew it was something for the books, but the best part of being here is talking to the people serving now," he said. "They like that I was enlisted and I like remembering that I was a part of something great." 

During his career in the Army Air Corps which became the Air Force in 1947, Mr Horton received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Chinese Army, Navy, and Air Corps Medal, Class A, 1st Grade. In 1960 after a long, distinguished career in the service, MSgt. Horton retired from the military. 

(Information courtesy of the Air Armament Center Historian Office)