|
It's the cup of brandy that no one wants to drink.
On
Tuesday, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, the surviving Doolittle Raiders gathered publicly for the
last time.
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-25s 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 Raid 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 emblematizes 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 this week will mark 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 is planning 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
firsthand 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 -- some time 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.
PLEASE SEND THIS ON TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, ESPECIALLY
TO THOSE WHO WERE TOO YOUNG TO KNOW ABOUT
THESE GUYS. THIS SHOULD
BE READ BY EVERY KID IN GRADE AND HIGH SCHOOL
SO THEY KNOW WHAT
HAPPENED.
As an aside... What would these men have done
if they had known it was all about money for the Gangster bankers?? But yet,
we know, and are letting them kill us daily with all their chemtrails, Haarp,
GMO'ed food, Poisoned tap water, BS medicine, etc. WWJD??
|
![[]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDAWIPGpWFp4p_zuJNdKlSjmlxzaQDQsPybZWsQWFcacraXnwyPRJwRGS36x-GskOanHZQTH8MzkfmaFxSwWw7Ww5zvAbmcMbn9G_j0Ttj9XfLVJ-A7Yft926eZ2IXqJt4RoSzN3bd_H0/s1600/request+for+help+denied.jpg)
![[]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDCMfbWsJqqDcqfVkCxbR-ReeOLxA45v-o5pt-8-RxdwYJ46UWZrz7vJs6m1k8mMGfGIfGuKrT1BkTxsNT7acibTsCi_o31ZK6Zme3D5ua6aDYNSmJRm41_Kd49dM-iV0uIV3SF9ZiRi8/s1600/greg+hicks.jpg)
![[]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9seXAB4aDpdg0XMnkYIqQt_zv3XdJwkb7xZy8a1S7GeJwhlb7eydVx2bKqgmNdbxBantcM8wyUTCKqMWAvlqXGSC64vO3c28EcluQnUghE8zeR7lN9sVRVJ_tdryKc1QMx5_sV5trSUk/s1600/africom+logo.jpg)
