Doolittle Raid Doctor: A Firsthand Account of Bombing Tokyo and Escaping Occupied China from Flight Surgeon Doc White

A previously unpublished first-person account of the Doolittle Raid.

The number 15 plane on the Doolittle Raid carried a flight surgeon, Dr. Thomas Robert White, MD (1909–92). White was a graduate of Harvard Medical School and recipient of both the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross.

During the war, White authored a 40,000-word account of the mission. He vividly described the bombing and subsequent escape and evasion through occupied China. This included a lifesaving leg amputation for Ted Lawson, author of Thirty Seconds over Tokyo. 

Part of White’s story was published in Atlantic magazine circa 1944. The balance remained private. The doctor's granddaughter, Gabrielle Adelman, partnered with aerospace expert John Fredrickson to prepare the manuscript for this publication, with editing and significant annotation. 

Dr. Thomas White, MD, was born on Maui in 1909. Before entering the Army Air Corps, he studied at Caltech, Harvard Medical School, and Johns Hopkins. He served as the only flight surgeon on the Doolittle Raid. White departed military service in 1945 with the rank of major and as a recipient of the Silver Star and DFC. After the war, he practiced medicine in Hawaii and later in California, where he died in 1992.

John Fredrickson has authored five books on aviation history, several of which were published by Schiffer. Before he took up writing, Fredrickson worked at Boeing for 36 years. He is also a veteran of the US Air Force, with four years on active duty, including a tour in Vietnam, and 17 years in the reserves. He lives in Washington.

When Gabrielle Adelman discovered her birth family in adulthood, she was thrilled to find that her grandfather, Thomas White, was a Doolittle Raider. Furthermore, the family privately held his handwritten account. An honors graduate of Caltech, Gabrielle nurtured a string of start-up companies to success involving high tech, aviation, electric vehicles, and the performing arts. She is also a licensed flight instructor and rated airline transport pilot. She lives in the Bay Area.