The FINAL
TOAST!
They
bombed Tokyo 73 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.
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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-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 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.
Al
so 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
