Apr. 18, 1942 - Army Lieut. Col. James H. Doolittle, taking off from USS Hornet (CV 8),
Capt. Marc A. Mitscher commanding, bombed Tokyo, the first American air strike against the J
apanese homeland. Hornet's mission was kept an official secret for a year; until then President Roosevelt
referred to the origin of the Tokyo raid only as "Shangri-La."

Image courtesy of The United States Navy