ARCHIVE: This article was published in the Kalamazoo Gazette on Wednesday, June 13, 2007.
BY PAULA DAVIS
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
KALAMAZOO, MI - A former Kalamazoo man who was among the Doolittle Raiders, 80 men who led America's first air raid on Tokyo, conducted April 18, 1942, has died.
Col. Jack A. Sims, a decorated World War II veteran, died Saturday in Naples, Fla., after a long illness. He was 88.
Sims was called "Kalamazoo's first flying hero" in the 1940s for being among the pilots who conducted the Tokyo raid under the direction of Gen. Jimmy Doolittle. Exploits of the raiders, who flew many additional missions over Europe during World War II, served as a morale booster for the United States, according to newspaper accounts.
"I think that pretty much made him who he was. It was a defining time in his life, " his daughter, Brigid Hansen, said of Sims' role as one of the Doolittle Raiders. Reportedly 13 are still living.
"I'm not sure he would have continued a military career if that actually hadn't happened, because he spent the rest of his career in the military, " serving 28 years, said Hansen, who lives in Portage.
He received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Bronze Star, two Legion of Merit honors, multiple air medals and many other commendations. In 2003, he was inducted into the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame.
Hansen said her father, who graduated from Western Michigan University and spent the last 39 years in Florida, was often interviewed or asked to speak about his time as a combat pilot, including why he took part in what she said some considered "basically a suicide mission."
A 1942 Kalamazoo Gazette article reported that, following a visit home to Kalamazoo, "Major Sims was sent to the African-European theater, where he completed 40 bombing missions, again under Gen. Doolittle's command. On his 40th and last mission, his B-26 bomber was struck by enemy fire in the right motor, and he barely managed to make a safe landing behind the Allied lines."
Sims was 23 at the time of the Tokyo raid.
In a 2002 book by Sims, "First Over Japan, " he wrote: "There was nothing routine about any bombing raid. Sometimes we experienced heavy flak from the ground batteries and sometimes the sky around us was "quiet.' ... Sometimes it was a "milk run' with no opposition and no casualties; other times, lots of guys got killed, hurt or bailed out and became prisoners of war."
Hansen said she and her siblings urged Sims for years to publish his memoirs, but it was military historian Al Cook who finally convinced him to write "First Over Japan."
Cook, a veteran who lives in Ft. Myers, Fla., said he sat down with Sims for 39 interviews that resulted in a 105-page, spiral-bound work about Sims' life and career.
When Cook read a paragraph from the epilogue, Sims "lost it completely, " said Cook, who was to deliver the eulogy at Sims' funeral Wednesday in Naples.
"On the way out of the house - I'll never forget it - Jack was in a wheelchair. He grabbed my arm and said, "Well, we beat old father time.' I said, "Yeah, we beat him.'"
"Now, he's a man of the ages. A man of American history, " Cook said of Sims.
After the war, Sims held such positions as executive assistant to the deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Air Force headquarters in Washington, D.C., and served a stint at the U.S. Embassy in London.
Also since the war, the raiders have gathered yearly at reunions around the country. Their numbers have dwindled, and at their 65th reunion in April, only seven or eight were present, said Hansen, who attended the gathering with her husband. Her father was too ill to attend.
Sims is survived by his wife, Lee; four children, Kimberly Staley of Atlanta, Brigid Hansen of Portage, John Sims of Richmond, Va., and Michael Sims of Kansas City, Mo.; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.