PEARL HARBOR

Roosevelt places his hands on the arms of his wheelchair, and
struggles to lift himself.  Aides jump to help him, but he
waves them off.  With inhuman physical effort, that has his
neck veins bulging and sweat popping on his face, Roosevelt
stands on his withered legs.

                     ROOSEVELT
          Do not tell me...it can't be done.

EXT.  PEARL HARBOR - HICKAM BASE - DAY

There is a mass memorial service going on, with caskets
draped in flags.

There are also coffins covered in Japanese flags, their
drowned fliers being treated now with respect.

Everyone is in their best uniforms.  The pilots -- Rafe,
Danny, and the other guys -- are looking at Billy's coffin;
Evelyn, next to Danny, on his appropriate side is looking at
one that belongs to Betty.  So is Red; he's grieving.

                     MINISTER
          ...Where is God in this?  Our enemies
          believe a divine wind protects them.  We
          see our friends laid out before us, and
          find it hard to believe in anything at
          all.

Rafe and Evelyn exchange a glance, past Danny.

                     MINISTER
          Though we cannot understand why our
          friends should die while we live, we can
          affirm our truest selves in our belief
          that any God worth divinity would choose
          both justice and mercy, and would take
          these fallen brothers and sisters into
          eternal peace.  Amen.

As the mourners disperse, Evelyn puts a lei on Betty's
casket; Red does the same, then breaks down beside Danny.  As
Danny comforts him, Evelyn moves to Rafe.

                     EVELYN
          Rafe --

                     RAFE
          I need to tell you something.  I didn't
          know what it was to lose somebody, to see
          death and find how much it scares you.
          That you haven't lived and loved enough.
          I didn't understand.  Forgive me.

                     EVELYN
          Rafe... No.  You forgive me.

                     RAFE
          Of course I forgive you.  I know what you
          feel for Danny is real.  And your choice
          is your choice.

                     EVELYN
          That's what I have to tell you, Rafe.  It
          wasn't a choice.  It --

An Army Corps MAJOR steps up and interrupts.

                     MAJOR
          Lieutenant Rafe McCawley?

                     RAFE
          Yes, Major.

                     MAJOR
          Lieutenant Daniel Walker here too?

Danny sees him and moves up.

                     DANNY
          I'm Walker.

                     MAJOR
          You're going Stateside.  We fly out in
          half an hour.

He hands them both orders.

                     RAFE
          What for, Sir?

                     MAJOR
          Ask Colonel Doolittle.  Those orders are
          from him.

EXT.  HICKAM FIELD - DAY

The wrecked planes have been pushed off the runway and lie in
piles.  A transport plane is fueling, and Rafe and Danny wait
in the shade of a shelter.

                     DANNY
          I told her not to come.

The Major, watching the fueling, gets a wave from the ground
crew and turns and motions to Rafe and Danny that they're
ready.  They pick up their duffel bags -- and then Evelyn
comes around the corner of the shelter.

Rafe sees her first, but stops and looks away as Danny moves
to her.  For a moment he studies her eyes, and she does not
look away.

                     DANNY
          This hasn't been easy for any of us.  I
          feel awful for how it's happened.  But
          I've seen my first spring too.  Thanks
          for knowing that's true.

He takes her into his arms, kisses her tenderly but briefly,
a final time.  Evelyn's eyes find Rafe, but he can't look at
her until the embrace is over.

Rafe and Danny move to the plane and hurry up the steps.
They turn before the door closes and wave to her.

Evelyn's still standing there as the plane lifts away.

INT.  U.S. MILITARY INSTALLATION - NIGHT

The transport has landed and taxied right to the door of a
low, dark bunker, mostly underground.  The Major leads Rafe
and Danny inside.

INT.  BUNKER

Rafe and Danny follow the Major down a spartan corridor; the
whole place reeks of secrecy.

INT.  BUNKER - SECRECY ROOM - NIGHT

The Major opens the door for Rafe and Danny, then leaves,
closing it behind him.  Doolittle is alone at a desk.  Rafe
and Danny walk in and salute.  Doolittle motions to the two
chairs in front of the desk without looking up from the
papers he's studying.

                     DOOLITTLE
          I heard what you did.

                     RAFE
          We can explain, Colonel.

                     DOOLITTLE
          Explain what?

                     DANNY
          Whatever is was you heard about us.

                     DOOLITTLE
          You mean the hula shirts you were flying
          in?... Or the six planes you shot down?
          You're both being awarded the Silver
          Star, and promoted to captain.

                     RAFE
          Is that the good new, Sir, or --

                     DOOLITTLE
          You're just about the only pilots in the
          Army with actual combat experience, so
          you're volunteering for a mission I've
          been ordered to put together.  Do you
          know what top secret is?

                     RAFE
          Well sure, Colonel --

                     DOOLITTLE
          Top secret means you help me pick the
          other pilots, train, and go -- without
          knowing where you're going until it's too
          late.

                     DANNY
          You can count on us.

                     DOOLITTLE
          There's only one other thing I can tell
          you.

Doolittle looks up from his paperwork for the first time.
His eyes are fierce.

                     DOOLITTLE
          You won't need any goddamn hula shirts.

EXT.  ESTABLISHING EGLIN FIELD, FLORIDA - DAY

Eglin Field is on the gulf coast of Florida.

INT.  BRIEFING ROOM - EGLIN FIELD - DAY

A room full of PILOTS are assembled, with and other CREWMEN.
Danny and Rafe are there; Red and Anthony too.

                     VOICE
          Attention!

Colonel Doolittle strides into the room as all the men snap
to attention.

                     DOOLITTLE
          Be seated.  The mission you've
          volunteered for is dangerous.  How
          dangerous?  Look at the man beside you.
          It's a good bet that six weeks from now,
          either you or he will be dead.

Danny and Rafe whisper to each other --

                     DANNY
          Sorry you're gonna die -- cause I'm gonna
          make it.

                     RAFE
          What color flowers you want me to bring
          to your funeral?

                     DOOLITTLE
          In flight school you qualified in single
          and in multi-engine planes.  You'll be
          flying multi-engines here.

                     RAFE
               (whispering)
          Bombers.

                     DOOLITTLE
          I want to introduce a couple of people.
          Doc White is a flight surgeon; he has
          volunteered for gunnery training so that
          he can go on the mission, because we
          can't spare the weight of an extra man.

                     DANNY
               (whispering)
          A long range bomber mission.

                     DOOLITTLE
          ...And Ross Greening, who will oversee
          your equipment.  Any questions?

                     DANNY
          Who'll be the first one in, Colonel?  I'd
          like to volunt --

Rafe elbows his ribs so hard it takes his breath away.

                     DOOLITTLE
          I thought I'd made it clear, I'm not
          just putting this mission together -- I'm
          leading it myself.

                     RAFE
          I take it back, about the flowers.  We're
          all gonna die.

EXT.  EGLIN FIELD - RUNWAY - DAY

CLOSE - A B-25 bomber, from different angles.

The pilots look them over, liking what they see.

                     DOOLITTLE
          This is what we'll fly -- the B-25.
          There's one thing you have to be aware of
          from the very beginning.  You see that
          private?

They look down the runway a few hundred feet.  A private
waves, and starts painting a red line across the runway.
Another private, close by, paints a green line.

                     DOOLITTLE
          Green means go.  Red means dead.

MONTAGE - THE TRAINING - EGLIN FIELD - DAY

The pilots practice takeoff's.  Red is Rafe's copilot;
Anthony is Danny's.  Nobody can get airborne before the red
line.

INT.  EGLIN FIELD - LECTURE ROOM - DAY

Doolittle is instructing the men.

                     DOOLITTLE
          You're having trouble getting airborne in
          the shorter space because you're not
          revving the engines enough.  You've got
          to push them to the limit before you ever
          start to move.

Rafe is distracted; he's lost in though, looking at Danny --
and looks away just before Danny realizes it.

MONTAGE CONTINUES - EXT.  EGLIN FIELD RUNWAY - DAY

Pilots practice hard, revving the engines, taking off
hard...all of them crossing the red line, takeoff after
takeoff.  Rafe pushes his engine hard and still crosses by
twenty feet; Danny pushes even harder, and misses by ten
feet.

Doolittle watches with Greening from the edge of the runway.

                     DOOLITTLE
          We've got to get the weight down.

INT.  HANGER - EGLIN FIELD - DAY

Greening has removed the intensely complex Norden sight from
a bomber and put in on a table for Doolittle.

                     GREENING
          Okay, forty pounds gone.  And in it's
          place, this.

He shows Doolittle an aluminum strip on a swivel.

                     GREENING
          Weight, 3 ounces.  Cost, 20 cents.

                     DOOLITTLE
          Does it work?

EXT.  EGLIN FIELD - DAY

Doolittle pilots a B-25 at treetop level onto a practice
bombing range.  Greening uses the makeshift sight, and drops
a 500-lb sack of flour, right in the middle of the bull's-eye
target chalked on the ground.

EXT.  FLORIDA COAST - DAY

The B-25's are practicing, flying at treetop level.  Red is
Rafe's copilot, Anthony is Danny's.  Doolittle is flying the
lead bomber.

                     DOOLITTLE
          Right down to the treetops.  Low as you
          can.

Rafe brings his plane down, smoothly.  Then Danny's plane
appears -- under him.  Rafe jerks his nose up quickly.
Rafe's angry; Danny's laughing -- but he scares the shit out
of his crew.

EXT.  EGLIN FIELD - NIGHT

Danny's outside, looking up at the moon.  Rafe appears and
moves up beside him.

                     DANNY
          Fun today.  Like old times.

                     RAFE
          Danny, what the hell are you trying to do
          out there?

                     DANNY
          What do you mean?  I'm just doing what
          we've always done.

                     RAFE
          No.  You're trying to beat me.

                     DANNY
          We've always tried to beat each other.

                     RAFE
          Bullshit.  We've played with each other,
          pushed each other.  This is different.
          Like you want to prove that you're
          better than me.  Who's that for --
          Evelyn?

Danny's anger flares for a moment -- but Rafe's hit home.

                     DANNY
          Maybe just trying to measure up.

                     RAFE
          What's between you and her is between you
          and her.  But here's what's between you
          and me.  Everybody has a hero, Danny.
          And you're mine.

Danny's caught off-guard.

                     RAFE
          When we were growing up, I had
          everything.  You had nothing.  You
          climbed out of a hole I couldn't even see
          the bottom of.  I think maybe when I went
          off to England, I was trying to measure
          up to you.  Measuring up's over.  Let's
          just look out for each other.  Okay?

They embrace, closer now than ever.

MONTAGE - INTERCUT

with the planes practicing their short takeoffs, we see
Roosevelt in one of his fireside chats, his voice broadcast
across America...

                     ROOSEVELT'S VOICE
          Good evening, America...

Families all across America are gathered around radios,
listening.

                     ROOSEVELT'S VOICE
          I'm told that 80% of American families
          are listening to these fireside chats of
          ours, and I'm happy we can come together,
          as one great American family.  I'd like
          each of you within the sound of my voice
          to find a map...

The FAMILIES do, gathering around encyclopedias, school
books, any reference they have, spread on kitchen tables,
suburban living room rugs, or farmhouse hearths...

And the B-25's, all sixteen of them, begin a journey in
formation, flying at treetop level across America:
Mississippi delta land, Texas plains, Arizona mesas...

                     ROOSEVELT'S VOICE
          Look at the Pacific Ocean.  It covers
          half the surface of the earth.  And look
          at the great Atlantic.  The oceans both
          divide and connect us to our enemies, and
          either they will come to us, or we will
          go to them...

The formation of B-25's reaches San Francisco.

EXT.  SAN FRANCISCO NAVAL AIR STATION - DAY

Doolittle leads the bombers to a landing.  IN RAFE'S PLANE,
everybody's wondering why they're here.

                     RED
          N-naval station?  What's g-going on?

                     RAFE
          Wish I knew, Red.

EXT.  SAN FRANCISCO AIR FIELD - DAY

The crews climb from their planes, and almost before they're
out, teams of men use straps and cranes to hoist the bombers
onto flatbed trucks.  Doolittle walks up to Rafe and Danny,
watching the baffling operation.

                     DOOLITTLE
          Want to see where they're going?

EXT.  SAN FRANCISCO HARBOR - EVENING

Cranes lift the planes from the trucks and hoist them onto
the flight decks of the carrier USS HORNET.  The pilots stand
on the pier, watching.

                     ANTHONY
          I guess that settles it.  Somewhere in
          the Pacific.

                     RED
          With a s-short r-runway.

They all gather around Doolittle as he moves up to them.

                     DOOLITTLE
          You have rooms at the Biltmore.  I
          suggest a nice meal and a good night's
          sleep.  We leave tomorrow.

Doolittle walks to join a captain.

INT./ EXT.  SAN FRANCISCO HOTEL - NIGHT

The pilots get off the bus and carry their duffels into the
lobby.

                     ANTHONY
          San Francisco, here we are!

                     DANNY
               (grinning)
          I don't reckon we can get hogbrains and
          grits, but I hear a man can eat good in
          this town.

                     RAFE
          I'm gonna turn in.  I hate being on the
          water.  I think this is the last sleep
          I'll get for awhile.