Last Mission to Tokyo

April 20, 2020
Columbia Law School lecturer Paradis debuts with a deeply sourced account of the aftermath of one of WWII’s most famous air raids. Under the command of U.S. Army Air Force officer Jimmy Doolittle, 16 planes bombed Tokyo in April 1942. Then, after crash-landing near Shanghai, eight crewmen were captured and tortured by Japanese soldiers. Three were convicted of “atrocities against civilians” in a show trial and executed; a fourth died in captivity. The surviving POWs were rescued from a Japanese internment camp on the outskirts of Beijing in 1945. The bulk of the book recounts U.S. military lawyer Robert Dwyer’s efforts to hold those responsible for the mistreatment and executions of the Doolittle Raiders accountable. Paradis painstakingly recounts Dwyer’s investigation and decision to prosecute four Japanese officers for torture and murder, and draws on transcripts, press coverage, war diaries, and interviews to recreate the trial, in which teams of American prosecutors and Japanese and American defense lawyers sparred over what constitutes a war crime. Though human elements of the story sometimes take a back seat to legal matters, Paradis persuasively argues that the case set a meaningful precedent for the Geneva Conventions. This finely wrought history rescues a dramatic WWII episode from obscurity. Agent: Rachel Vogel, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.

May 1, 2020
The Doolittle raid over Tokyo four months after Pearl Harbor has received plenty of attention, but this captivating account of the lesser-known aftermath deserves attention. A lawyer specializing in war crimes law, Paradis ably summarizes the mission in which B-25 bombers inflicted little physical but much psychological damage to the Japanese. Of the 80 American airmen who participated, two died in crashes and eight were captured. The Japanese executed three for "bombing and strafing school areas"; five were pardoned by a "merciful" emperor but sentenced to life imprisonment with "special treatment." The result was more than four years of brutality. One airman died of malnutrition before liberation, and one was close to death and never entirely recovered. Once the news got out, Americans demanded vengeance, the survivors most of all. Most of the book describes efforts of a team of American lawyers to track down those responsible, gather evidence, and try them for their crimes. Had the U.S. followed Japan's lead, officials would have swept up everyone involved, performed a cursory show trial, and extracted our revenge. It is to America's credit that it stuck to democratic ideals. The lawyers worked hard to assemble convincing evidence on each individual involved and then persuade relatively impartial judges who were also listening to an aggressive defense. Although a legal scholar, Paradis writes engagingly, delivering clear explanations of the legal issues, the onerous preparations, and the trial itself. Four defendants, all Japanese army officers, faced five American judges who were Army officers and not lawyers. The lawyers for the accused, who were not chosen for their experience, worked hard for their clients. The relatively mild verdicts that resulted--three received "five years at hard labor," and the other received eight--incensed their superiors. However, the author, who demonstrates a clear grasp of the legal matters at play, feels that the defense presented a reasonable case. A surprisingly absorbing legal procedural.

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Starred review from July 1, 2020

The Doolittle Raiders' bombing mission over Tokyo in 1942 captured the imaginations of Americans anxious for revenge for Pearl Harbor. The captured Raiders endured torture and deprivation at the hands of the Japanese, with three fliers executed in the closing weeks of the war. In his first book, international lawyer Paradis describes the efforts to bring to trial those responsible for these war crimes. After an intense manhunt, three Japanese army officers were indicted: Shigeru Sawada, Okada Ryuhei, and Wako Yusei. Many believed the outcome of the trial was a foregone conclusion. The spirited defense by American military lawyers called into question the extent of the defendants' guilt and showed how the official narrative of the raid contained many unexpected turns. The guilty verdicts were unsurprising; however, the announcement of prison time instead of the death penalty outraged many, leading to calls for another trial or resentencing. Based on extensive archival research, this narrative by Paradis expertly renders the complexities and nuances of war crimes trials into readable prose as well as fleshing out the backstories and personalities of the major protagonists. VERDICT Will appeal to readers of military and World War II history and legal thrillers.--Chad E. Statler, Westlake Porter P.L., Westlake, OH

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