Air Force Museum
Doolittle Raiders'' Congressional Gold Medal
On May 23, 2014, President Barack Obama signed Public Law 113-106 awarding the Congressional Gold Medal -- the highest civilian recognition Congress can bestow -- to the 80 members of the Doolittle Tokyo Raid in recognition of their service. The 113th Congress awarded this medal to the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders for their “outstanding heroism, valor, skill, and service to the United States” during the famous raid on Japan on April 18, 1942.
In depth
History & service
Congressional Gold Medals are designed and struck by the United States Mint, and these medals are normally kept by the Smithsonian Institution. However, the 113th Congress directed that the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders’ medal be given to the National Museum of the United States Air Force, “where it shall be available for display” with the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Goblets.
The obverse (“heads”) side of the medal depicts a B-25 Mitchell taking off from the deck of the USS Hornet on the first air strike against Japan. The stars represent the 16 Doolittle Tokyo Raider aircrews that participated in the attack. The reverse (“tails”) side shows the emblems of the four squadrons of the 17th Bombardment Group with three B-25s fulfilling the group’s motto: Toujours au Danger -- “Ever into Danger.”
A bomber was a workplace under pressure
A multi-engine bomber carried a crew whose members performed different jobs in a confined, noisy, and often very cold environment. Pilots, navigators, bombardiers, radio operators, engineers, and gunners depended on one another. Oxygen, communications, heating, and the movement of equipment mattered to survival as well as to the mission. Damage could turn an ordinary procedure into a difficult act of improvisation.
Formation flying added another layer of dependence. Bombers attempted to combine navigation, concentrated bombing, and defensive fire while holding position through changing weather and enemy attacks. Long-range fighter escort altered the balance, but it did not remove antiaircraft fire, mechanical failure, or the consequences of fatigue. Mission reports and surviving equipment reveal both the power of the force and the vulnerability of the people inside it.
Named aircraft and famous crews offer an entry into this history without representing every experience. Nose art and personal possessions made an industrial machine feel like a shared home, yet many crews and aircraft left little material trace. The museums preserve fragments of that wider world: a turret, a flight jacket, an engine, a decorated aircraft, a story of escape. Linking them across galleries allows the technical history of bombing to be read alongside courage, loss, civilian consequences, and the work required to bring a damaged aircraft and its crew back.
