On April 18, 1942 – 75 years ago Tuesday – 80 incredibly brave men in 16 bombers took off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet to bomb Tokyo and other Japanese cities in retaliation for the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

It was called the Doolittle Raid, after the group’s charismatic leader, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, a renowned avaiator even before the war.

Doolittle’s B-25 was the first to take off from the Hornet. Sitting beside him was a quiet, lanky young man from Dayton, Ohio, named Dick Cole.

On Tuesday, the 101-year-old will be at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton , Ohio. There, he will complete a decades-long tradition and turn over the goblet of his friend and fellow Raider David Thatcher, who died last year on June 22.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article145064429.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article145064429.html

One of the coolest military traditions I have ever read about.  Those men were giants in whose footsteps we tread.  We are about to hold a 75th anniversary celebration for my unit, which was formed the same year.

All of those who served in WWII will be gone soon.

I cannot imagine the sadness he must feel knowing he is the last of his group.

My great uncle was their flight surgeon! It's been decades  since I heard the stories since he passed away years ago, but if I recall correctly Doolittle originally was under the mistaken impression that the raid was a failure in his own eyes, and it wasn't until someone came across him in a bar somewhere and explained to him that because of the effect his raid had on morale, ours and theirs, and how it changed everything, that he was considered an absolute hero!

I had another uncle who served in the Pacific and stormed the beaches like in the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan. When we were talking about the movie he turned ashen and said the opening scene was so true to life that the only thing missing were the smells of gunpowder and blood...

It's true there aren't many WW2 Veterans left and we should honor every last one of them- they truly were the greatest generation!!!

I got the opportunity to go to the reunion at WPAFB yesterday and took my 12 year old son and 10 yr old daughter. Obviously didn't get to see Mr Cole or the private goblet ceremony but it was still an amazing day. They had 11 B25 on the tarmac that you could walk all around and they did 2 flyovers that afternoon. My son is an old warbird nut and I think he was in heaven. Did get to see a couple WWII vets out there as well. The dual B1 flyover at the end of the day was also a sight to see!

I was there also for the B25's taking off and the flyover. Was there also five years ago. Very humbling experience.

Duh!

Yesterday afternoon, I heard/saw a B-25 flying over heading West.

Now, I get it.

Godspeed WWII vets!

TC

Amazing and amazingly sad.  What a great tradition though.

That is one military mission that will probably never happen again.

Take off from a carrier. They knew there wasn't enough fuel to get back.  Know it might be a suicide mission.  The only chance was to land/crash in a unknown area occupied with enemy troops.

Guys had balls of iron.  These men were real heroes

Their raid forced the Japanese to pull back resources to ensure a similar raid never happened again.  It had a major effect on the morale of the Japanese

IMHO.  All of them should have had a State Funeral just like when a President dies.

Lots of good pics and video in here.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1985673_75th-Anniversary-of-Doolittle-Tokyo-Raid---17-B-25-Mitchell-and-2-B-1B-Flyover-Pics-and-Video.html&page=1

Damn, I remember the 50th reunion here in town.  Hard to believe it's almost over with.    B-25's were all over the place flying around.  And at the time I lived next to the airport, so I got a good show.

Of course Columbia is where the training for the mission started.

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