Nolan Herndon, a member of the famed Doolittle Raiders who bombed Japan in 1942, has died. He was 88.

Herndon died Sunday of pneumonia, Edgefield Mercantile Funeral Home director David Burnett told The Associated Press on Monday.

The Raid was a total secret to all involved and the members of the raid were chosen by volunteering for a "dangerous secret mission". The members did not know the target destination until the planes were loaded on the ship and the raid was underway. This was to prevent any "leakage" of information about the raid. 16 B-25 twin engine bombers were to take off from the deck of the Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet and bomb Japan mainland. This would be the first attack on Japan mainland of WW2. Because the airplanes were too large to be taken below deck on the aircraft carrier they had to be stored at the end of the runway on top. As a result the runway was very short, especially for the first plane in line, and special training was required to teach the pilots to be able to take off in such a short distance with a full payload.

The appearance of 16 B-25s over Japan on April 18, 1942, lifted the gloom that had descended upon America and her Pacific allies. The bomb damage that resulted was not great, compared with that inflicted later in the war, but the raid had some far-reaching effects. The Japanese were forced to retain fighter units for the defense of the home islands which had been intended for the Solomons, and they felt compelled to expand their Pacific perimeter beyond the area where it could be defended adequately. The full impact of the raid on the minds of the Japanese military leaders and its consequent influence on the course of the war in the Pacific were not realized until long after that conflict.

For American and her allies the raid was a badly needed morale booster. Besides being the first offensive air action undertaken against the Japanese home islands, the Tokyo raid accomplished some other "firsts" that augured well for the future. It was the first war action in which the United States Army Air Force and the United States Navy teamed up in a full-scale operation against the enemy. The Doolittle Raiders were the first and last to fly land-based bombers from a carrier deck on a combat mission and first to use new cruise control techniques in attacking a distant target.