April 18, 1942… 16 U.S. Army air crews are about to embark on their first combat mission. It might also be their last. The B-25 bombers they are flying were never intended to launch from an aircraft carrier. But that’s what they are about to do.
 
 
They have enough fuel to reach their targets, military and industrial sites in Tokyo and five other Japanese cities. But they won’t get much further. And even if they somehow make their way to China, and relative safety, no one knows they are coming.
 
2022 marks the 80th anniversary of this pivotal World War II mission, America’s answer to Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. In 2018 some of the children of the men known as the “Doolittle Raiders” visited China, to literally “walk in their fathers’ footsteps.” But is this mission remembered in China as heroic or misguided? What kind of reception did they receive, at a time when US/China relations were bad, and getting worse?
 
One historical event, two different narratives. What really happened? Find out in the new American Public Television documentary Unsettled History: America, China and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid.