Thirty six years after his very own tread across Earl Bridge to receive the official WPI beanie, Robert Desourdis Jr. has returned to WPI to give students and faculty a unique opportunity.  Desourdis hosted a book signing for his most recent book in the WPI bookstore on September 30. Immediately following the book signing was a presentation of a model of the 5th plane in the Doolittle bombings. Desourdis constructed the model for the brother of one of the crew member on the plane who died in action after the bombings.
The book is entitled Achieving Interoperability in Critical IT and Communication Systems and is Desourdis’s 2nd book, though he has contributed to many others. It addresses society’s faults as humans and, bizarrely for Desourdis, contains “only one equation.” Achieving Interoperability in Critical IT and Communication Systems is a thought-provoking book, giving its readers reason to think all the way back to Pearl Harbor. According to the book, after Pearl Harbor the US legislature came up with 25 reasons why Pearl Harbor was able to occur. These same reasons have been looked at in regards to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, and all 25 reasons remain relevant for the occurrence of both these events as well. Some of these reasons include the lack of technological information sharing between humans.
Desourdis claims that humans do not share information because they do not trust one another. Also, it is typically not in a company’s best interest to willingly share information because there is money in chaos. Desourdis abhors the idea that companies do not share their technology. “It is not their right to not share information that would benefit the public.” He believes this is true not only for companies, but also for public workers and government employees. “People sharing information and trusting each other is more important than any technology because technology will continue to fail especially if information is not shared.”
In his book, Desourdis also addresses the fact that humans are continually surprised by the disasters that occur. People think the government and other companies should protect them and be able to solve the natural problems that arise. This surprise is amiss because the same factors allow these problems to occur - “it is problems in human organizations.”
The overall message of the book is some possible techniques for fixing the United States’ failures, for it is these failures that allow tragedies to happen. Unless humans work together and share information, tragedies will continue to happen for the same reasons they have been happening for over 50 years.
The model Desourdis built is a 1/48th replica of a B25 bomber as it sat on the deck of the hornet before take off for the Doolittle Raid. Desourdis is particularly interested in the Doolittle bombing because it was a success for the United States shortly after the failure at Pearl Harbor. He called Eugene McGurl, the aforementioned crew member, “one of the first heroes of WWII.”
The model itself took Desourdis two in a half years to finish - twice as long as his book. He used video and photographs to make the replica perfect. The interior of the plane is authentic, down to the detail of a toilet. The gun turret is also authentic. Made with 72 pieces, the turret is not just a stick, but does everything except shoot. The deck of the hornet is also as perfect as Desourdis could make it. The lines painted on the deck are at the exact angle as the actual lines were.
As a model builder and an author, Desourdis craves immortality. By creating his model, he helped the Doolittle raid, and in particular plane number 5 and its crew members, live forever. The ceremony itself was very beautiful. Everyone watched as Desourdis presented the model to McGurl’s brother and niece. He gave a full brief of the exact make of the model and ended the presentation by thanking Eugene McGurl, through his brother, for his service to the nation.