Doolittle Raider. It was Major John Hilger, second in command to Lt. Colonel "Jimmy" Doolittle, who chose Sims as his co-pilot for the first American bombing of Tokyo, Japan on April 18, 1942. He was one of the 80 volunteers, then a 2nd Lieutenant and co-piloted one of the 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers launched from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet on the morning of the attack. The raid paved the way to the Battle of Midway, which helped overturn Japan's power in the Pacific in 1942. The raid was depicted in books and the movies "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" (1944) and was re-enacted in the movie "Pearl Harbor" (2001). Sims remained in the Air Corps, serving in both World War II and the Korean War. In 1968, he retired a Colonel from the US Air Force and moved to Florida with his family. His decorations include two Legions of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, eight Air Medals, Bronze Star, two National Defense Service Medals and a WWII Victory Medal. In 2006, at the opening of the WWII Memorial Center in Washington, he received the Audie Murphy Award for distinguished service to the U.S. Military. He also is a member of the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame, as an outstanding air and space pioneer and author of his autobiography "First Over Japan".
Doolittle Raider. It was Major John Hilger, second in command to Lt. Colonel "Jimmy" Doolittle, who chose Sims as his co-pilot for the first American bombing of Tokyo, Japan on April 18, 1942. He was one of the 80 volunteers, then a 2nd Lieutenant and co-piloted one of the 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers launched from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet on the morning of the attack. The raid paved the way to the Battle of Midway, which helped overturn Japan's power in the Pacific in 1942. The raid was depicted in books and the movies "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" (1944) and was re-enacted in the movie "Pearl Harbor" (2001). Sims remained in the Air Corps, serving in both World War II and the Korean War. In 1968, he retired a Colonel from the US Air Force and moved to Florida with his family. His decorations include two Legions of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, eight Air Medals, Bronze Star, two National Defense Service Medals and a WWII Victory Medal. In 2006, at the opening of the WWII Memorial Center in Washington, he received the Audie Murphy Award for distinguished service to the U.S. Military. He also is a member of the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame, as an outstanding air and space pioneer and author of his autobiography "First Over Japan".
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