Museum Minute: General James Doolittle

James Doolittle was a general during World War II. He became famous for his raid on Tokyo in 1942 just after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Danny Michael, the assistant curator of the Cody Firearms Museum, said the United States wanted to retaliate, so Doolittle led an air raid. A lot of his crew were captured or killed, but Doolittle made it back alive. 

Michael said Doolittle continued to lead many of the major Air Force units during the war and became a prominent airman.

“In addition to his military service, he was a benefactor of the Cody Firearms Museum, so he found out about the Cody Firearms Museum and enjoyed it,” said Michael.

Michael said Doolittle donated one of his own guns to the museum: a Winchester Model 21 Shotgun. 

“They were sort of a deluxe shotgun. They didn’t make a ton of them. It’s a higher grade of gun that Winchester made, and this one he [Doolittle] owned and used for a number of years,” said Michael.

The gun is currently on display at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s Cody Firearms Museum.

Museum Minute was a series co-produced with Wyoming Public Media (WPM).