Advertisement
April 18 will be the 66th anniversary of the first U.S. bombing of Japan, by 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers, each with a crew of five. The attack was recounted later in the book and movie “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.”
 |
Mark Doolittle positions a model of one of the bombers Jimmy Doolittle used to bomd Japan during World War two. Dick Rinioker photo |
Mark Doolittle, who opened the exhibit at 1203 Caledonia St. to the public last July, will be in Dallas next week for the annual reunion of the surviving Doolittle Raiders. It will be the ninth consecutive Doolittle Raiders reunion he has attended. Some reunion events are open to the public.
Eleven of the 80 Doolittle Raiders still are alive, Doolittle said.
He never met distant relative Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, who led the raid from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, and who died in 1993.
“I’ve always had an interest in (the raid), probably from having the same last name,” Doolittle said. “I’ve traced that back to about a seventh cousin,” he said of his relationship to the famed aviator.
Mark and Judie Doolittle and their children, Karla and Ned, own Mark Jewellers at 1205 Caledonia St. and at 2928 Market Place in Onalaska, Wis. Mark has retired except for going to the Caledonia Street store about six hours a week to repair mechanical, or wind up, watches.
Mark and Judie also own the storefront next door at 1203 Caledonia St. The previous occupant, a convenience store, closed last spring.
“I didn’t look for another tenant,” Mark said. “I had my (Doolittle Raiders) collection in boxes and bags. I wasn’t seeing it, and nobody else was, either,” so he decided to create the exhibit.
It is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and at other times by appointment. School class tours also are available.
The exhibit will be open this week, but closed the following two weeks while Doolittle attends the reunion in Dallas.
Doolittle has been collecting Doolittle Raiders jackets, books, photos, prints, model airplanes and related memorabilia for about 10 years. He has bought many of the items on eBay and some at the reunions.
Some of his favorites are model airplanes that hang from the ceiling, a replica of the bomb sights used on the mission and a plaque that has a small piece of aluminum from one of the Doolittle Raiders airplanes that crashed in China.
A print on the wall is signed by 41 of the Doolittle Raiders. The print already had some signatures when Doolittle bought it, and he got more by going to the reunions.
“I usually take two or three things with me” to have autographed at each reunion, Doolittle said. He has given some of the items to friends, but doesn’t sell them.
The La Crosse jeweler figures he has met about 25 Doolittle Raiders, mostly at the reunions.
More on the Raiders
For more information on the Doolittle Raiders exhibit, call Mark Doolittle at (608) 385-4684. For more information about the raid, visit www. doolittletokyoraiders.com or www.doolittleraider.com.
Steve Cahalan can be reached at (608) 791-8229 or scahalan@lacrossetribune.com.
