ALAMEDA — A Navy veteran who witnessed the launch of the Doolittle Raid during World War II will visit the USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum in April to help mark the 76th anniversary of the attack.
Edward Nowatzki was serving with a gunnery crew aboard the USS Hornet when he watched Jimmy Doolittle and his men set off to bomb Japan in April 1942, an attack that gave the nation a much-needed morale boost in the months after Pearl Harbor.
Nowatzki will talk about the raid and his other experiences during the war at 1 p.m. April 21. He also will autograph copies of his book, “Memoirs of a Navy Major.”
When the Hornet set off on the raid from the former Alameda Naval Air Station, the sailors aboard knew that the Army Air Corps bombers strapped to the flight deck and their crews were bound for somewhere in the Pacific.
But the men did not know where until an announcement came over the ship’s loudspeakers as the Hornet passed near the Farallon Islands, Nowatzki told this newspaper in May 2012.
“The announcement said, ‘This ship will carry these Army bombers to the coast of Japan. Then they will be launched, and they will bomb Tokyo,’ ” Nowatzki said.
The sailors initially greeted the news with silence.
“Then through the ship there was a roar of approval,” Nowatzki said.
Along with watching Doolittle and his men set off in their 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers, Nowatzki was aboard the Hornet when Japanese torpedoes and bombs struck the carrier in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October 1942, sinking it and killing about 140 men. The current USS Hornet museum was being built at the time of the sinking and was initially to be named the USS Kearsarge. The name was changed in honor of the lost vessel.
Nowatzki slid down a rope off the ship’s fantail and dropped into the ocean wearing a life-jacket. He reached a crowded lifeboat and clung to the side until he was picked up by a destroyer a short time later.
Along with the event at the USS Hornet museum, the anniversary of the Doolittle Raid will be marked on March 31 at the Alameda Naval Air Museum, 2151 Ferry Point Road in Alameda. The event will begin at noon and will feature a lunch, a video screening and presentation by historian Marshall Davis. The cost is $20. Call 510-522-4262 for information.
The USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum is located at 707 W. Hornet Avenue in Alameda. Normal admission rates will apply for the Doolittle anniversary event. Call 510-521-8448 for information.