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Toward the Setting Sun
by William S. Phillips
The USS Hornet
(CV-8) steams prophetically into a Pacific sunset with the Doolittle
Raider’s 16 B-25s spread and lashed down across her deck. SBD’s of the
USS Enterprise’s (CV-6) Scouting Squadron 6 (VS-6) patrol
above. Sending two of the United States aircraft carriers, the core of
Vice Admiral Halsey’s of Task Force 16, to the Japanese coast in 1942
was a risk of the highest order, especially for a fleet and a nation
reeling from Japan’s string of Pacific victories. TF 16’s assets were
deemed so valuable that its early discovery by Japanese picket craft on
the morning of April 18, 1942, 200 miles short of the intended launch
point, prompted the immediate launch of Doolittle’s aircraft. At the
time, the mission was even referred to as the Halsey-Doolittle Raid.
Nine of the sixteen ships that made up TF 16, most importantly the
carriers Hornet and Enterprise, would six weeks
later take part in dealing the staggering blow to the Japanese Fleet
off Midway. The Doolittle-Halsey Raid truly marked point when the
Rising Sun first began to set.
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A Greenwich Workshop Personal Commission™ Fine Art Print:
limited to the number of prints ordered during the commission period.
Signed by the artist and numbered.
Countersigned by four surviving members of the Doolittle Raiders
in attendance at the Raider Reunion, Dayton, Ohio April 16, 2010.
Image size: 24"w x 16 1/2"h.
Paper size: 27"w x 26"h.
$395
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