Results & Remembrance

Physical damage inflicted by the Raiders was light, compared both with Pearl Harbor and with American strategic bombing of Japan in 1944-45. Japanese authorities reported fifty persons killed and 250 wounded. Ninety buildings were destroyed, including gas tanks, warehouses and factories.

Psychological damage to Japanese pride however proved shattering. The Imperial Army and Navy had failed to protect the homeland and, more importantly, the Emperor. After the war, Americans learned how heavily this blow shocked Japanese commanders, who decided to extend their defensive perimeter farther out into the Pacific to guard against more such attacks. This led in June 1942 to the Battle of Midway, the decisive naval engagement in the Pacific.

Americans have never forgotten the Raiders nor the Raiders each other. Every April 18th, the heroes gather to remember the fire that burned in their young hearts and to mark the passing of fellow Raiders. A set of eighty silver goblets, each inscribed with a Raider's name, is flown to each reunion from the US Air Force Academy in Colorado. In a private ceremony, attendees raise their cups to toast departed comrades and invert the cups of those who have died since the prior gathering. When the last man is gone, his goblet too will be reversed. May gratitude for their magnificent sacrifice endure as long as the nation they served.