Too bad the youth of today is totally oblivious to the
sacrifices that have been made on their behalf!
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.
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 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 "
 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
 Also, in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special
cognac. The year is not happenstance: 1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle
 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
 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
 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!.
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