73 Years Later, Texan Victor Egger Living Legacy of World War II’s Secret ‘Doolittle Raid’ -By David Tarrant
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20150418-73-years-later-texan-victor-egger-living-legacy-of-world-war-ii-s-secret-doolittle-raid.ece
At a time when American morale was at its lowest point during World War II, the secret mission dubbed the “Doolittle Raid” seemed too audacious even for screenwriters pumping out war movies in Hollywood.
Seventy-three years later, Victor Egger still shakes his head as he recalls his role on April 18, 1942 — just four months after Japan’s devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. “I still find it hard to believe,” Egger said.
For the young Texas sailor, just two months shy of his 21st birthday, the bombing raid on Tokyo and other Japanese cities led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle signaled the start of a bold six-month campaign. As the fate of the world hung in the balance, Egger took part in some of the greatest battles in U.S. Navy history.
Now Egger, 93, a resident of a Grand Prairie assisted living facility, finds himself in another battle. He’s determined that this history, made up of thousands of acts of heroism great and small, be remembered amid his generation’s fading footsteps.
Egger recalled chatting recently with the grandson of a fellow resident when the subject of Doolittle’s raid came up. “He’d never heard of him!” Egger said. “Young people don’t know anything about this.”
That’s why, leaning on his walker, he still talks to groups, especially students. “I feel the biggest mistake veterans have done,” he said, “is not talk about their experiences during the war.”
It started about 25 years ago when Egger’s grandson was a high school student writing a paper on him. “That broke the ice,” he said.
Egger was born in El Paso in 1921. He enlisted in the Navy out of high school in 1939, two years before the U.S. went to war. He had a dream: “Since I was 13 years old, I’d wanted to be a Navy officer in a white uniform.”
Assigned to the USS Hornet, he was in Virginia Beach, Va., on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Pearl Harbor attack destroyed or damaged much of the U.S. Pacific fleet. The Hornet, one of the few remaining carriers, left for California, where, on April 1, 1942, 16 B-25 bombers were loaded aboard.
The Hornet was well out to sea before the ship’s commander announced the secret mission: to sail 5,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean and launch an air raid on Tokyo.
“There was complete silence and then we cheered,” Egger said. The daring raid would be the first to strike Japan during World War II.
The plan was to take the carrier within 450 miles off the coast of Japan. But after crossing the 180th meridian on April 17, they were spotted by a Japanese patrol boat. The raid was nearly scuttled. Instead, the mission started the next day from 600 miles away — amid stormy seas and 45 mph winds. It would be a one-way trip, and, after dropping their bombs, the planes would head toward landing sites in China.
Egger had a direct role in the launch of the bombers. From inside the carrier’s tower, he relayed the “go” order from the commander to the officer in charge of the flight deck by signaling with a green flag. By midmorning, all the planes were in the air.
The mission was a success. Fifteen of the 16 planes made it to China and one plane flew to Russia. Most of the crew members survived, including Doolittle.
For the next six months, the Hornet would see nearly non-stop action, including the Battle of Midway, the Solomon Islands campaign and the capture and defense of Guadalcanal. Then came the Battle of Santa Cruz on Oct. 26, 1942.
Attacking at dawn, dive bombers and submarines damaged the Hornet beyond repair, and the order was given to abandon ship. “We were dead in the water,” Egger said.
Several American destroyers in the area came alongside the Hornet to rescue its crewmembers who were scrambling down cargo nets to safety.
Egger asked a wounded sailor if there was anything he could do. “Can you get my rosary?” the sailor asked.
While Egger retrieved the rosary, a Japanese plane dove into the Hornet, creating an inferno not far away from him. When he tried to leave the compartment, the warped door jammed. Fearing he would be burned alive, he pounded on the door. Somehow, two sailors passing by heard the pounding and rescued him.
That experience haunted him for many years. “You can’t think of a prayer in a moment like that,” he said. “All you can say is, ‘Have mercy on me.’”
It was during the battle for Okinawa, scene of the largest amphibious assault and the last battle of the war, that Egger almost lost his will while attempting an amphibious landing. He was leading an assault from a control boat, which flew flags to communicate with amphibious tanks that were part of the assault wave.
Egger kept his craft churning through a barrage of shells. Near him, an amphibious tank went down from a direct hit. “That’s when I about deserted,” he said. “I was going to turn my boat around and go out to sea.”
As Egger knew well, desertion was a capital offense punishable by firing squad. Just then, he spoke these words over the radio to the others following him: “As long as you’re with me, you don’t have a thing to worry about.”
Today, Egger laughs at the difference betweeen his thoughts and his actions: “Where those words came from, I don’t know.”
In 1959, he retired from the Navy after 20 years as a lieutenant commander and went on to sell transport equipment. Now a widower, he lives near his two children. His room is decorated with family photos, along with medals and plaques from his military career.
In one of the frames, there is an official Navy photograph of him. He’s wearing a white uniform — a dream come true.
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