The Last Raider Published March 31, 2006 By Ted Sturm Airman Magazine, December 1973 SAN ANTONIO -- Behind them, a pall of oily smoke rose above Nagoya (Japan). It wasn’t until he learned the aircraft carrier Hornet was bound for Tokyo that Lt. James H. “Herb” Macia grasped the significance of the mission his and 15 other B-25 crews had been training for. But suddenly, every man aboard the ship that day in April 1942 realized he was part of a history-making undertaking; that whether they succeeded or failed, they would earn a place in history. The Hornet, part of Admiral “Bull” Halsey’s specially prepared Task Force 16, was steaming toward a point some 500 miles off the coast of Japan to launch Lt. Col. James Doolittle’s “Tokyo Raiders” -- 16 Army Air Force B-25 Billy Mitchell bombers that would do at President Franklin D. Roosevelt had instructed: “Take the war to Japan.” If successful, the raid would be exactly what the defeat-weary United States needed for its sagging morale. Lieutenant Macia, a young navigator-bombardier from Tombstone, Ariz., was in Aircraft Number 14. His B-25 was to fly to Nagoya, where Macia would guide the pilot over four designated targets: a military barracks area; an oil and gas storage site; and arsenal; and, the most enticing of all, the Nagoya Mitsubishi aircraft factory. Getting the B-25s off the Hornet was no small feat in itself, but once airborne, the flight was uneventful. Aircraft Number 14 came in low, about 100 feet off the deck, and then climbed to their bombing altitude of 1,500 feet. “We passed over a crowded ballpark,” Lieutenant Macia said later. “and hardly a soul looked up. They didn’t even know a raid was in progress.” Lieutenant Macia hit all four targets, and as they climbed to 8,500 feet to head for China where they were to land, they could see a pall of oily smoke rising above Nagoya. Last month (November 1973), Lieutenant Macia retired as an Air Force colonel. He was the last of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders still serving on active duty. At the time of his retirement, he was chief of staff, Headquarters U.S. Air Force Security Service, at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas. Even to this day, he is amazed at the relatively easy time his crew had on the Tokyo raid. “Compared to some of the others, it was a breeze,” he said. Even so, when his crew arrived at the area in China where they were to land, the weather was zero, and the give crewmen had to bail out. They landed safely, rejoined, and were given a hero’s welcome by the Chinese in Kuang Feng. Later they learned that only one of the 16 aircraft landed safely. Twelve crews had bailed out, three had crash-landed, one landed safely in Siberia. Two men were killed, and eight were captured by the Japanese. Of these, three were executed, and a fourth died of injuries. The raid itself, however, was a success, and provided the hoped for boost in national morale. After the Tokyo raid, Colonel Macia returned to the United States in the summer of 1942. By December, he was back in action, this time flying B-26s with the 320th Bombardment Group in North Africa. He remained with the 320th until April 1945 for a total of two consecutive combat tours during which he served as a crew member, group navigator, group bombardier, group S-2 and group executive officer. (After his retirement from active duty) he remained in the Reserves. Recalled to active duty in 1951, he stayed with the Air Force, holding a variety of staff assignments, mostly in intelligence functions, until his retirement. Colonel Macia had accepted a job as a business manager with a Catholic seminary in San Antonio, Texas. He also hopes to conduct an active physical fitness program at the school. Mrs. Macia is organizing the San Antonio women’s chapter of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. For a man who has seen as much action around the world as Herb Macia has, his future plans seem quite tranquil. But maybe, after an active career that spanned three decades and as many wars, tranquility is exactly what this Tokyo Raider has in mind.