
Richard Nowatzki LCDR USN (Ret) speaks to the audience on-board the USS Hornet (CV-12) museum. (Action Alameda News)
Nowatzki, a 5-inch anti-aircraft gun sight-setter, watched the B-25 bombers launch from the deck of the USS Hornet (CV-8) for Tokyo and remained part of the crew until the boat was sunk in the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands in October, 1942.
The 92-year old Chicago native reminisced and took questions for about an hour, then signed copies of his book, Memoirs of a Navy Major.
The Doolittle raid on Tokyo, on April 18, 1942, did little damage, but was a psychological boost for Americans stunned by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the prior December and demonstrated to the enemy that its home territory too, was vulnerable to air attack.
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