This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Shane Laemmel, MR3
to remember
Ramsey, Lyle, CAPT.
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Contact Info
Home Town Topsy, MO
Last Address Greenwich, CT
Date of Passing Dec 11, 2008
Location of Interment Rosedale Cemetery - Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
Wall/Plot Coordinates 74254604
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Other Comments:
Lt. Lyle B. Ramsey, U.S. NAVY for service as set forth in the following Citation is awarded a Letter of Commendation.
"For meritorious conduct as spotting officer of a heavy cruiser during operations of U. S. naval forces against superior enemy surface units off ____. Against an enemy completely alert and already shooting, Lt. Ramsey made observations that caused early damage to an enemy cruiser at a range of twenty thousand yards; and during the ensuing three hours or more, further damage to that and other ships. During part of the action, Lt. Ramsey's visibility was restricted by smoke pipe gases. Lt. Ramsey was charged wit the laborious duty of repair, upkeep and alignment. The excellent state of readiness of the main battery of his ship was evidenced by its outstanding performance in action. The conduct of Lt. Ramsey was at all times in keeping with the highest traditions of the naval service."
s/ T. C. Kinkaid, Vice Admiral, U. S. Navy
Permanent Citation
Pacific Air Offensive (1942-45)/Doolittle B-25 Attack on Tokyo
From Month/Year
April / 1942
To Month/Year
April / 1942
Description The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, on 18 April 1942, was an air raid by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu island during World War II, the first air raid to strike the Japanese Home Islands. It demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, served as retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, and provided an important boost to U.S. morale while damaging Japanese morale. The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle, U.S. Army Air Forces.
Sixteen U.S. Army Air Forces B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched without fighter escort from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet deep in the Western Pacific Ocean, each with a crew of five men. The plan called for them to bomb military targets in Japan, and to continue westward to land in China—landing a medium bomber on Hornet was impossible. Fifteen of the aircraft reached China, and the other one landed in the Soviet Union. All but three of the crew survived, but all the aircraft were lost. Eight crewmen were captured by the Japanese Army in China; three of these were executed. The B-25 that landed in the Soviet Union at Vladivostok was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year. Fourteen crews, except for one crewman, returned either to the United States or to American forces.
After the raid, the Japanese Imperial Army conducted a massive sweep through the eastern coastal provinces of China, in an operation now known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, searching for the surviving American airmen and applying retribution on the Chinese who aided them, in an effort to prevent this part of China from being used again for an attack on Japan. An estimated 250,000 Chinese civilians were killed by the Japanese during this operation.
The raid caused negligible material damage to Japan, but it succeeded in its goal of raising American morale and casting doubt in Japan on the ability of its military leaders to defend their home islands. It also caused Japan to withdraw its powerful aircraft carrier force from the Indian Ocean to defend their Home Islands, and the raid contributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's decision to attack Midway Island in the Central Pacific—an attack that turned into a decisive strategic defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) by the U.S. Navy in the Battle of Midway. Doolittle, who initially believed that loss of all his aircraft would lead to his being court-martialled, received the Medal of Honor and was promoted two steps to Brigadier General.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
April / 1942
To Month/Year
April / 1942
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories In April, Salt Lake City escorted TF 16, which launched the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo and other Japanese cities, and returned to Pearl Harbor on 25 April.
