Tag Archives: Richard Cole

Doolittle raiders hold last reunion

By hnn

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — At 97, retired Lt. Col. Richard Cole can still fly and land a vintage B-25 with a wide grin and a wave out the cockpit window to amazed onlookers.

David Thatcher, 91, charms admiring World War II history buffs with detailed accounts of his part in the 1942 Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, in which he earned a Silver Star.

Retired Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, 93, still gets loud laughs from crowds for his one liners about the historic bombing raid 71 years ago Thursday that helped to boost a wounded nation’s morale in the aftermath of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.

Cole, Thatcher and Saylor — three of the four surviving crew members from the history-making bombing run — are at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle for a final public Reunion of the Doolittle Raiders. They decided to meet at Eglin because it is where they trained for their top-secret mission in the winter of 1942, just weeks after the Japanese devastated the American fleet at Pearl Harbor….

Source:
WaPo

Source URL:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/famed-members-of-the-world-war-ii-doolittle-bombing-raid-on-Tokyo-hold-final-public-Reunion/2013/04/18/bbc1d848-a802-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html

Date:
4-18-13

From: http://hnn.us/articles/doolittle-raiders-hold-last-reunion

Famed World War II aviators hold final reunion

Retired Lt. Col. Richard Cole is 97, but that didn’t stop him from taking the controls and flying a vintage B-25 bomber at a Reunion of the famous World War II Doolittle Raiders.

Cole is one of four surviving crew members from the 1942 raid on Tokyo. Three of the men gathered at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida this week to mark the 71st anniversary of the April 18 raid. The men have said this will be their final public Reunion.

Cole was mission commander James Doolittle‘s co-pilot when the 16 B-25s flew off an aircraft carrier and bombed Japan just four months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Eglin Air Force Based named an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter hangar for 93-year-old surviving raider Edward Saylor on Wednesday.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/jVlkKiwdsQg/

Doolittle "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" Raid — 71 Years Later

By Mary Claire Kendall, Contributor

“Who could imagine volunteering for our nation in 1942 and celebrating its success 71 years later?,” Lt. Col. Richard Cole asked recently in a video announcing the Raiders’ last Reunion in Fort Walton Beach this week.

From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/maryclairekendall/2013/04/17/doolittle-thirty-seconds-over-tokyo-raid-71-years-later/