Doodlittle Raider Took The Gospel To Japan

- Obituaries - Jacob Daniel Deshazer 1912-2008 - The Rev. Jacob Daniel Deshazer, one of the participants in the historic Doolittle Raid on Japan during World War 11, died in his sleep March 15 at his home in Salem, Ore. He was 95.

After spending 40 months as a prisoner of war after the raid, Desjazer retured to Japan intent on forgiving his former captors and converting them to Christianity. During 30 years as a missionary, he helped start 23 churches in Japan.

Deshazer was born Nov. 15, 1912, to an Oregon wheat-farming family. He joined the Army Air Corps at 27, two years before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. A month after the attack, he volunteered for a secret mission. Then a corporal, he was the bombardier aboard the "Bat out of Hell," one of 16 bombers under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle that launched a surprise attack on Tokyo and other Japanese targets on April 18, 1942.