World War II Honoree

Chase Nielsen

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Brigham City, Utah

Honored By

Friends of American Heroes

LIEUTENANT COLONEL. A MEMBER OF THE 'DOOLITTLE RAIDERS' WHO BOMBED JAPAN IN 1942 HE WAS A NAVIGATOR IN ONE OF THE MOST DARING AIR RAIDS IN AMERICAN HISTORY, WHEN 16 B-25 BOMBERS TOOK OFF FROM AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER AND BOMBED TOKYO ON APRIL 18, 1942. HE AND HIS CREW DITCHED THE PLANE, WHICH WAS RUNNING OUT OF FUEL, OFF THE COAST OF CHINA AND HE SPENT MORE THAN THREE YEARS AS A JAPANESE PRISONER OF WAR. HE WAS ONE OF FOUR PRISONERS OF WAR FROM THE RAID TO SURVIVE. FOUR OTHERS DIED. THE RAID, PLANNED BY LIEUTENANT COLONEL JIMMY DOOLITTLE, WAS THE SUBJECT OF THE BOOK AND MOVIE 'THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO'; IN THE BOOK FOUR CAME HOME, WHICH CHRONICLED THE STORY OF THE HONOREE AND THE OTHER SURVIVORS. HE RETURNED TO CHINA TO TESTIFY AT JAPANESE WAR-CRIMES TRIALS JUST MONTHS AFTER HE WAS RELEASED.