Accomplished O some exceptions. comradeship in action. The reunions took place each year with Doolittle and his men began decades ago to commemorate their was thecontinuation—andculmination—ofatradition the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. This ceremony last salute to their fallen comrades at the National Museum of of Worldcourse WarII. Midway islands atoll, where a stunning US victory changed the leaders. modest damage, their raid deeply embarrassed Japanese military American morale by bombing the Japanese homeland. Mission 40 USAF photo by Desiree N. Palacios Last Nov. 9, three of the four living Doolittle Raiders gave a The raid also contributed to Japan’s decision to attack the They accomplished that and more. Though they inflicted but on Pearl Harbor less than fi ve months before and raise Doolittle, their mission was to avenge Japan’s attack the western Pacific. Led by Lt. Col. James H. “Jimmy” off the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet n April 18, 1942, 80 brave men fl ew 16 B-25 bombers deep in front of the invitation-only crowd of Raider family, friends, and drinking vessels the Raiders have long used for their toasts, in not attend due to health issues. Thatcher, engineer-gunner of crew No. 7. J. Saylor, engineer of crew No. 15, and former SSgt. David J. other two Raiders gathered for the toast: retired Lt. Col. Edward out with a soft “pop.” Hennessy cognac. He had to work at it. Eventually, the cork came crew No. 1, announced his presence at the event in a strong voice. the years. Retired Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, Doolittle’s copilot on answering “here” in the museum’s hall made clear the passage of Pacific and in doing so changed the history of airpower. said attendees. It honored men who helped win the war in the Cole raised his goblet, one of the specially engraved silver Retired Lt. Col. Robert L. Hite, copilot of crew No. 16, could Air Force Academy cadets poured a measure for Cole and the When the roll ended, he rose to open a bottle of 1896-vintage First came the reading of the Raiders’ roll. The few voices The Raiders’ final toast was a poignant and moving occasion, By Peter Grier AIR FORCE Magazine

US Navy photos / February 2014 / February supporters. “Gentlemen, I propose a toast to those we lost on the Below left, l-r: Edward Saylor, Richard Cole, and David Thatch- mission and those who have passed away since,” he said. “Thank er in front of the wooden case built to preserve and transport the Doolittle Raiders’ personalized silver goblets. Robert Hite, you very much, and may they rest in peace.” the fourth Doolittle Raider still alive, was unable to attend this The veterans drank. The crowd applauded. A lone bugler played fi nal commemoration, but raised his toast from home via a “Taps.” It was over. The Raiders would never repeat this ritual, videotape made earlier in the week. Here: A B-25 lifts off from since Cole and his fellows had decided that the 2013 Veterans the fl ight deck of USS Hornet on its way to Japan. Below: The Day goblet ceremony would be their last. Doolittle Raiders’ patch features the motto “Ever into Danger.” In remarks at the event, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III said one of the fi rst books he read as a boy was Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, a fi rsthand account of the Doolittle mission by then-Capt. Ted W. Lawson. Welsh’s father, a World War II veteran, gave the book to him and told him to look at it closely

because the story it told was what America is all about. photo Navy US The Doolittle raid pioneered the concept of global strike, the idea that no target on Earth is safe from US airpower, said Welsh. “Jimmy Doolittle and his Raiders are truly American heroes. They are also Air Force heroes,” he said. Jimmy Doolittle was a founder of the Air Force Association. Following his retirement from Active Duty at the end of World

In November, three of the four surviving Doolittle Raiders raised their goblets, one last time, to honor their fallen comrades.

AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2014 41 War II, he joined a group of other prominent heavy attack as Japan’s armed forces swept airpower advocates to create a nonprofi t through the Far East. organization dedicated to the promotion of national defense and a separate Air Making It Happen Force. Doolittle was elected the group’s “There was dire need of a stimulus to fi rst National President. A statue of him morale,” wrote Wesley Frank Craven and is prominently placed at AFA’s head- James Lea Cate in the fi rst volume of The quarters in Arlington, Va. Army Air Forces in World War II, the of- “He was essentially the fi rst elected fi cial history of the war. leader of the organization,” says retired A chance observation sowed the seeds Sixteen B-25s lined the fl ight deck of Col. Joseph E. Sutter, a former AFA for the operation. An aide to Chief of Naval USS Hornet as it crossed the Pacifi c to- Chairman of the Board. Operations Adm. Ernest J. King saw Army ward Japan. Hornet was accompanied In 2009, AFA honored the Doolittle bombers at Norfolk Va., take off within the by alert escort ships to help protect the Raiders with a Lifetime Achievement painted outline of an aircraft carrier. Was lethal cargo. US guns sank a Japanese Award, presented at the annual Air & it possible these big airplanes could take patrol boat 800 miles off the coast of the island nation, but not soon enough. Space Conference and Technology Ex- off at sea while carrying munitions and a The Japanese were warned, and to position. Cole was among the Raiders full load of fuel? maintain the critical element of sur- who attended the event. King and Army Air Forces leader Gen. prise, Doolittle decided to launch the At one point, Sutter fell into con- Henry H. “Hap” Arnold embraced the idea raid much farther away from the target than planned. versation with Doolittle’s copilot and and assigned famed aviator Doolittle to or- asked him several obvious questions: ganize a suitable air group. Tests showed the What was he thinking? What was going North American Aviation B-25B Mitchell through his mind as he sat in his B-25 on was capable of launching from a carrier the wind-whipped deck of USS Hornet, with a useful bomb load and enough fuel engines roaring, just before a mission to reach Japan from the western Pacifi c and that had every chance of ending in his continue on to airfi elds in China. own demise? Doolittle recruited volunteer crews Sutter thought the answer would be from the 17th Bomb Group (Medium) for something like, “Hope I live through this,” an unspecifi ed dangerous mission. They or “Can we make it to our landing fi elds in trained in short-distance takeoffs at Eglin China?” Field, Fla., while a group of B-25s was But it wasn’t. “All I know is, I’m sitting next stripped of excess equipment and modifi ed to the greatest pilot in the world,” was what with extra fuel tanks to give the bombers Cole said his thoughts were at that moment. as much range as possible. In January 1942, the United States had been The new carrier USS Hornet was as- at war with Japan for more than a month. To that signed to the mission. Its captain had no point, the confl ict was going badly. Pearl Harbor idea what that mission was until April 1, had been bombed and much of the Pacifi c Fleet 1942, when 16 B-25s were lifted aboard wrecked. Japanese airpower had sunk the British his fl ight deck at Alameda Naval Air Sta- warships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse tion in San Francisco Bay. The next day, off the coast of Malaya. The Philippines were under Hornet and supporting ships steamed under

USAF photo

42 AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2014 US Navy photo Navy US

the Golden Gate Bridge toward the open scored a hit on a Japanese carrier in dry dock at sea and toward history. the Yokosuka naval base. Anti-aircraft fi re hit Doolittle hoped to reach a point 450 one B-25, but caused little damage. miles off Japan before launching. That was “The successful bombing of Tokyo indi- not to be. In the early hours of April 18, the cated that, provided the element of surprise Hornet task force encountered a Japanese is possible, an extremely successful raid can patrol boat. US guns sunk the vessel, but be carried out at low altitudes with great commanders had to assume the mission’s damage and high security to equipment and secrecy had been compromised. The fl eet personnel,” wrote Doolittle in his July 1942 was still 800 miles from the B-25’s targets. report to Army Air Forces headquarters “This contingency had been foreseen and on the mission. it had been agreed that rather than endanger In truth, the actual harm the B-25s the carriers, the planes would be sent off infl icted was moderate. Some bombs despite the remote chance that they could missed the mark. And once the 16 reach China from such a distance,” wrote bombers cleared Japan’s islands, they Craven and Cate. remained in great danger. Their enemies Vice Adm. William F. Halsey Jr. or- were not bullets, but weather and time. dered that the strike begin at 8 a.m. local A fortunate tailwind pushed them The Raiders (Doolittle is standing, time, some 10 hours earlier than planned. toward China. They were aiming for left) pose with a 500-pound bomb Doolittle roared off fi rst into the teeth of Chongqing (Chungking), wartime capi- and Navy Capt. Marc Mitscher (right), a 40-knot gale. The 16th and last bomber tal of Nationalist Chinese forces, where commanding offi cer of USS Hornet, lifted off at 9:21 a.m. All had gone without offi cials were supposed to be expecting en route to the launching point. They would be forced to fl y almost twice a hitch. their arrival. But clouds thickened as the distance planned. The patrol boat had indeed radioed a they crossed the East China Sea and warning, but Japanese authorities thought they approached the coast in darkness, any attack from that distance would not rain, and wind. Pilots and navigators arrive until the next day. Thus, the Raiders realized they would not be able to reach faced little opposition as they swept in low their intended airfi elds. To make mat- over the coast. Doolittle reached Tokyo at ters worse, no one had informed their 12:15 p.m. and unloaded his 500-pound Chinese allies they would arrive earlier and incendiary bombs. B-25 after B-25 than previously planned. followed him over Japan’s largest city, Some B-25s ended up crash-landing aiming for oil stores, factory areas, and in rice paddies or along narrow stretches military installations. Other B-25s hit Kobe, of beach. Many crews bailed out, includ- Yokohama, and Nagoya. One lucky bomb ing Doolittle and his men. There was AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2014 43 one exception: the B-25 fl own by Capt. defensive perimeter. The ease with which squadron of Army bombers, manned by Edward York was especially low on fuel the B-25s had penetrated to Tokyo argued volunteer crews, in a highly destructive and diverted to Vladivostok in the USSR. for pushing the perimeter out, perhaps as raid on the Japanese mainland,” reads the The Soviets confi scated the bomber and far as Midway, New Caledonia, or even citation in part. interned the crew members, who managed the Aleutians. Doolittle eventually commanded Eighth to escape after 13 months and made their Air Force in Europe as a lieutenant general. way home via Iran. A Secret Base in Shangri-La But as World War II ended, he still had one In China, one Raider, Cpl. Leland D. In June 1942, Japanese forces tried to unfi nished piece of business pertaining to Faktor, died as a result of a parachute ac- seize Midway, an atoll that, as its name the Raiders. cident. Two, SSgt. William J. Dieter and suggests, is roughly midway between North On the deck of Hornet, the day before Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, drowned after America and Japan. They suffered a defeat mission takeoff, Doolittle had promised water landings. The rest survived, and over widely considered today to be the turning his men that “when we get to Chungking, the next several weeks, most made their point in the Pacifi c theater of the war. I’ll throw you fellows the biggest party way to Chongqing and friendly territory. “Finally, the Tokyo raid was a hypo- you’ve ever seen.” The fortunes of war had Many ordinary Chinese helped the Raid- dermic to the morale of the United States, prevented him from fulfi lling that promise. ers immeasurably, since Japanese forces which had suffered the worst series of So he invited all the surviving Raiders controlled much of eastern China. military reverses in its history,” states The to a hotel in Miami to help celebrate his These civilians bore the brunt of Japan’s Army Air Forces in World War II. birthday on Dec. 14, 1945. anger. Japanese authorities sent 53 bat- In the immediate aftermath of the raid, It was a celebration that those who were talions to what was then called Chekiang Doolittle thought he would be court- there would never forget. Most Raiders province, where most Raiders landed. martialed. He had lost all the B-25s under attended. The tone of the event is caught These troops engaged in a three-month his command, after all. But news of the by the memo written to hotel management search and reprisal campaign that leveled successful blow against Japan hit the United by the night watchman. entire villages and left some 250,000 States like a thunderclap. The public was “The Doolittle boys added some gray Chinese dead. ecstatic. President Franklin D. Roosevelt hairs to my head,” wrote the watchman. The Japanese captured eight Raiders. was so pleased with the result that he joked “Fifteen of them with girls went swimming They tried each and sentenced them to at an April 21 press conference that the in the hotel pool at 1 a.m.,” he complained. death, ultimately executing three: two bombers had come from “our new secret He told them there was no swimming at pilots—Lt. William G. Farrow and Lt. base at Shangri-La,” the hidden Tibetan night, then went up twice more to try and Dean E. Hallmark—and one engineer/gun- valley at the center of the then-popular stop them, with no result. They were noisy ner, Sgt. Harold A. Spatz. The remaining novel Lost Horizon. until 5 a.m. “Yes, it was a rough night,” fi ve— Lt. George Barr, Lt. Robert Hite, Lt. Within days of the raid, the AAF pro- according to the watchman. Robert Meder, Lt. Chase J. Nelson, and moted Doolittle to the rank of brigadier Presented with this report, the hotel SSgt. Jacob D. Deshazer—became POWs. general, bypassing the rank of colonel. He manager took it straight to Doolittle him- The Doolittle Raid shocked Japanese received the Medal of Honor at a White self, according to retired Col. C. V. Glines, citizens, who had been told their island House ceremony on May 19. Army Chief historian and author of several books on the nation was untouchable. But it was too of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall read the attack and an honorary Doolittle Raider. small to depress national morale for long. citation and FDR himself pinned the medal The manager told Doolittle that his men What it did do was help tip the balance in on Doolittle’s uniform. had earned the right to make all the noise an ongoing debate within the Japanese “With the apparent certainty of being they wanted. “Then he asked them to au- military. Army and Navy leaders were forced to land in enemy territory or perish tograph the report, which they did,” said weighing whether to further extend their at sea, General Doolittle personally led a Glines at the Nov. 9 gathering at the Air Force Museum. A tradition was born. Since then, the Doolittle Raiders have held reunions most years, spread at sites all across the country. Their 17th reunion took place in Tucson, Ariz., in 1959. Before the gathering, a

Saylor, Cole, and Thatcher (behind Cole) drink a toast to their fallen com- rades. Hite is seen via video.

USAF photo by Desiree N. Palacios

44 AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2014 group of Tucson civic boosters decided to all the Raiders had raised their hand and and gave us hope. They are indeed part of present the Raiders with a special gift of volunteered for a hazardous mission of the greatest generation and we owe them 80 silver goblets, each one engraved with which they knew few details. our deepest gratitude.” the name of a Raider. In fact, each goblet The last toasting ceremony took about had the name engraved twice: once right They Gave Us Hope 45 minutes. Those who were there say it side up and once right side down. That Early Saturday afternoon of the week- was a moving event and that the survivors ensured the name would still be legible if end, the museum hosted a public arrival handled their role with aplomb. the goblet is turned over. ceremony. Hundreds of people waving fl ags “I was just blown away by the turnout They were designed to serve as a “last lined streets of Wright-Patterson near the and the reception for them and how man” memento. At each reunion, the Raid- museum and cheered as the three Raiders these guys reacted to it,” said retired ers would toast their fellowship. Those and family members of deceased Raiders Lt. Col. Wes Stowers, chairman of who had died since the previous meeting drove in with police escort. Stowers Machinery Corp., another would have their goblets turned over. When The Raiders and family members then event sponsor. only two Raiders remained, they were took part in a wreath-laying ceremony Stowers himself has a connection to to open a special bottle of vintage 1896 at the Doolittle Raiders Memorial in the the proceedings. As a young Air Force Hennessy cognac presented to Doolittle museum’s outdoor memorial park. Academy cadet in the mid-1970s, he on his 60th birthday. That toast would be “We all shared the same risk and had was standing in front of the Doolittle the group’s last. no realization of the positive effect ... on goblets when he met a young woman For years, the goblets were on display the morale of Americans at a time of great from Colorado College who had come at the Air Force Academy in Colorado national peril,” said Cole at the wreath- to the academy for a lecture. They’ve Springs, Colo. Since 2006, they’ve been laying. “We are grateful we had the op- now been married 36 years. on show at the Air Force Museum. The portunity to serve and are mindful that our At the academy, “Jimmy Doolittle Raiders have ensured that the goblets are nation benefi ted from our service. Thank himself would speak to us every year. fl own in their special wooden traveling you for joining us today.” A fl yover of B- We all put these guys on a pedestal,” case to each reunion site. The toast has 25s in “missing man” formation capped said Stowers. been a solemn ritual for the men involved, the wreath-laying while bagpipes played When the fi nal toast activities came with even waiters asked to leave the room “Amazing Grace.” to a close, the audience rose to give at the crucial moment. The fi nal toast itself was in a hangar- the three surviving Raiders a standing Over the years, more and more of the like area of the museum itself. Some 250 ovation. They likely will never gather goblets have been turned over. Doolittle attended. All were friends and family or in public again. Author and honorary himself died in 1993 at the age of 96. In invited guests. Raider Glines had the last word. “This 2013, due to advancing age, the remain- AFA was one of the event’s sponsors. concludes the ceremony and also com- ing Raiders decided it was time to end Former AFA Board Chairman Sutter at- pletes a mission,” he said. ■ the tradition. Four survive, but Hite is not tended, as did the AFA President, retired able to travel. Cole is 98. Saylor is 93, and Gen. Craig R. McKinley. “AFA is honored Thatcher 92. to have had the opportunity to be a part of Peter Grier, a Washington, D.C., editor In April 2013, Cole, Saylor, and Thatcher this monumental moment in airpower his- for the Christian Science Monitor, is a longtime defense correspondent and held their last public reunion in Fort Walton tory,” said McKinley in a statement. “The a contributor to Air Force Magazine. Beach, Fla. Then, on Veterans Day week- men on stage were part of an extraordinary His most recent articles, “Finding Luc end, they came together at the Air Force mission in the darkest days following Gruenther” and “AFJROTC in a Hold- Museum for their last toast. Pearl Harbor when US morale was at its ing Pattern,” appeared in the January The festivities began on the Friday of lowest. They took the battle to the enemy issue. that weekend with a family dinner at the museum for the three Raiders and fam- ily members of deceased Raiders. At the dinner, Jas Hennessy & Co., the primary sponsor of the weekend events, presented each of the survivors with a special aged bottle of cognac in a wooden case. Inside the case was a quote attributed to Doolittle: “There’s nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer.” In 1942,

L-r: Acting Secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning, USAF Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh III, and Betty Welsh applaud after the last Doolittle Raiders toast at the National Museum of the US Air Force.

USAF photo by Desiree N. Palacios

AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2014 45