The Final toast ... Thx Tom Q!

Lest we forget or our children never know!  Wait until you have a few minutes.     TRUE STORY OF WW II VETERANS. THE FINAL TOAST!  Too bad the youth of today is totally oblivious to the  sacrifices that have been made on their behalf! THE FINAL TOAST! When they bombed Tokyo 74 years ago.   They once were among the most universally admired and revered men in the United States .. There were 80 of the Raiders in April 1942, when they carried out one of the most courageous and heart-stirring military operations in this nation's history. The mere mention of their unit's name, in those years, would bring tears to the eyes of grateful Americans. Now only four survive.  After Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, with the United States reeling and wounded, something dramatic was needed to turn the  war effort around.  Even though there were no friendly airfields close  enough to Japan for the United States to launch a retaliation, a daring  plan was devised. Sixteen B-25's were modified so that they could take  off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. This had never before been  tried -- sending such big, heavy bombers from a carrier. The 16 five-man crews, under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle,  who himself flew the lead plane off the USS Hornet, knew that they  would not be able to return to the carrier.  They would have to hit  Japan and then hope to make it to China for a safe landing. But on the day of the raid, the Japanese military caught wind of the plan.  The Raiders were told that they would have to take off  from much farther out in the Pacific Ocean than they had counted  on. They were told that because of this they would not have enough  fuel to make it to safety.  And those men went anyway. They bombed Tokyo and then flew as far as they could. Four planes  crash-landed; 11 more crews bailed out, and three of the Raiders died.  Eight more were captured; three were executed.  Another died of  starvation in a Japanese prison camp. One crew made it to Russia. The Doolittle Raiders sent a message from the United States to its enemies,  and to the rest of the world: We will fight. And, no matter what it takes, we will win.  Of the 80 Raiders, 62 survived the war. They were celebrated  as national heroes, models of bravery. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a  motion picture based on the raid; "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," starring  Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, was a patriotic and emotional box-office  hit, and the phrase became part of the national lexicon. In the movie-theater previews for the film, MGM proclaimed that it was presenting the story " with supreme pride." Beginning in 1946, the surviving Raiders have held a reunion each  April, to commemorate the mission. The reunion is in a different city  each year. In 1959, the city of Tucson, Arizona, as a gesture of respect  and gratitude, presented the Doolittle Raiders with a set of 80 silver  goblets. Each goblet was engraved with the name of a Raider. Every year, a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is transported  to the reunion city. Each time a Raider passes away, his goblet is turned  upside down in the case at the next reunion, as his old friends bear solemn  witness. Also, in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special  cognac. The year is not happenstance: 1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle  was born. There has always been a plan: When there are only two surviving Raiders, they would open the bottle at last, drink from it and toast  their comrades who preceded them in death.  As 2013 began, there  were five living Raiders; then, in February, Tom Griffin passed away  at age 96. What a man he was. After bailing out of his plane over a mountainous  Chinese forest after the Tokyo raid, he became ill with malaria, and  almost died. When he recovered, he was sent to Europe to fly more  combat missions. He was shot down, captured, and spent 22 months in  a German prisoner of war camp. The selflessness of these men, the sheer guts ... there was a passage  in the Cincinnati Enquirer obituary for Mr. Griffin that, on the surface,  had nothing to do with the war, but that was emblematic of the depth  of his sense of duty and devotion: "When his wife became ill and needed  to go into a nursing home, he visited her every day. He walked from his  house to the nursing home, fed his wife and at the end of the day brought  home her clothes. At night, he washed and ironed her clothes. Then he  walked them up to her room the next morning. He did that for three years  until her death in 2005." So now, out of the original 80, only four Raiders remain: Dick Cole  (Doolittle's co-pilot on the Tokyo raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor  and David Thatcher. All are in their 90s.  They have decided that there  are too few of them for the public reunions to continue.  The events in  Fort Walton Beach marked the end. It has come full circle; Florida's  nearby Eglin Field was where the Raiders trained in secrecy for the  Tokyo mission. The town planned to do all it can to honor the men: a  six-day celebration of their valor, including luncheons, a dinner and a  parade. Do the men ever wonder if those of us for whom they helped save  the country have tended to it in a way that is worthy of their sacrifice?  They don't talk about that, at least not around other people. But if you find yourself near Fort Walton Beach this week, and if you should encounter any of the Raiders, you might want to offer them a word of  thanks. I can tell you from first hand observation that they appreciate  hearing that they are remembered.  The men have decided that after  this final public reunion they will wait until a later date -- sometime  this year -- to get together once more, informally and in absolute privacy.  That is when they will open the bottle of brandy.  The years are flowing  by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are only two of  them.  They will fill the four remaining upturned goblets. And raise them  in a toast to those who are gone.  Their 70th Anniversary Photo  PLEASE SEND THIS ON TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHO WERE TOO YOUNG TO KNOW ABOUT THESE BRAVE HEROES!.