OT: One final toast: Last goblet ceremony held for Dick Cole and the Doolittle Raiders

[HornyWartyToad]

Great read for the WWII history buffs here. I have to admit I had no idea it was an annual party- bet it was amazing to witness.


FORT WALTON BEACH, Florida — Eighty gleaming silver goblets stood in a blue velvet-lined case, each engraved with the name of one of the famed Doolittle Raiders.

All had been turned upside down — all but one, bearing the name Richard Cole, co-pilot to Jimmy Doolittle. At the time of his death in 2019, the 103-year-old Cole was the last of the Raiders who had carried out the daring bombing mission over Tokyo that marked the United States’ first counterpunch during World War II. That mission forced Japan to divert forces to safeguard its own island and bolstered the nation’s morale after Pearl Harbor.

For decades following the war, the surviving Raiders would gather privately once a year to toast their departed comrades with fine cognac and then solemnly turn over the goblet for each man who had died.

On Monday, the 80th anniversary of the raid, the final goblet ceremony was held to remember Dick Cole and his fellow Doolittle Raiders — the last chapter of a foundational piece of Air Force lore.

One final toast: Last goblet ceremony held for Dick Cole and the Doolittle Raiders

"To those who have gone": Top Air Force leaders and the Cole family bid farewell to the Raiders one last time.

www.yahoo.com

 

[FrogAbroad]

A very moving write-up. Thanks, HWT, for the post and the link.

 

[HornyWartyToad]

A very moving write-up. Thanks, HWT, for the post and the link.

Yeah that put a little frost on the windshield for me. That ceremony must've really been something.

 

[HG73]

That took guts. Wrangle a B-25 off a carrier deck, bomb Tokyo and hunt for a place to land in China. Then a fishing boat spotted the carrier and they had to take off early meaning they wouldn't have fuel to make the Chinese base. Amazing any of them survived.

 

[This Ain't Chopped Liver]

I went on a blind date with a Doolittle, and a few more dates followed. Her grandfather‘s brother was Jimmy.

 

[HornyWartyToad]

I went on a blind date with a Doolittle, and a few more dates followed. Her grandfather‘s brother was Jimmy.

How much did she do?

 

[BrewingFrog]

That took guts. Wrangle a B-25 off a carrier deck, bomb Tokyo and hunt for a place to land in China. Then a fishing boat spotted the carrier and they had to take off early meaning they wouldn't have fuel to make the Chinese base. Amazing any of them survived.

Doolittle was a racing pilot in the 30's. He knew far and away more than the Army people about how to get the most out of an engine, and early on after being issued his aircraft set about modifying the carbs and tweaking the radials to get the utmost performance out of them. Even so, getting a flying gas tank w/bombs off a pitching carrier deck was way more than they had trained for at sunlit Elgin Field. Like Halsey himself wrote in him memoirs: "One guy hung on the edge of a stall until we had nearly catalogued his effects."

The effects of the Doolittle Raid were a little downplayed (if that is possible) by the ceremony linked above. Japan had never been successfully attacked by a foe in her history. The great Khan tried a seaborne invasion, and it was swallowed up by a typhoon. The Japanese called this 'The Divine Wind' and believed the Gods shone forth their protection on the home islands. Most Japanese believed their islands to be immune to attack because of this Divine protection, that the Gods favored them. The unbroken string of crushing victories over the Chinese, Dutch, Americans, and the English proved this. Then, suddenly, Tokyo itself was bombed! A wave of literal shock rippled over Japan.

Mike Tyson philosophized: "Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth." Bismarck was quoted as saying "Starting a war is like going into a dark room, blindfolded, to find a black cat that may or may not be there." The sudden shock of realization that they were vulnerable, that the Gods had allowed such a thing to happen, was deeply felt across the Japanese people. No amount of propaganda or happy-talk could change the fact that the enemy had hit them in the heart of their lands.

And, for the first time, they felt fear...

 

[RufeBruton]

There is a small town along Interstate 44 in the Missouri Ozarks called Doolittle. In the Rolla/Fort Leonard Wood area. About 600 residents. Named after Jimmy. In 1946. Jimmy flew into the airport near Rolla in his own B-25 for the town dedication ceremonies. I drive past Doolittle every time I travel from Plano to my cabin in the Missouri Ozarks.

 

[Hoosierfrog]

That took guts. Wrangle a B-25 off a carrier deck, bomb Tokyo and hunt for a place to land in China. Then a fishing boat spotted the carrier and they had to take off early meaning they wouldn't have fuel to make the Chinese base. Amazing any of them survived.

One of the deck crew lost an arm to a prop hit as one of the planes started it’s roll.

Also, if you watch any of the old films of the take offs, one plane dips below the the bow before gaining altitude. They forgot to put their flaps down and were lucky to get in the air.

Also, it was a submariner that came up with the idea for the raid.

Jimmy Doolittle was also the first person to fly on instruments only. He had a blacked out canopy.

He also turned around the air war in Europe allowing escort fighters to hunt targets of opportunity.

Tough little guy at 5’4” 140.

 

[PurplFrawg]

The two movies "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" and "The Purple Heart" were based on that raid and were made in 1944 while the war in the Pacific was still raging. They are worth watching if you haven't seen them.

 

[Eight]

One of the deck crew lost an arm to a prop hit as one of the planes started it’s roll.

Also, if you watch any of the old films of the take offs, one plane dips below the the bow before gaining altitude. They forgot to put their flaps down and were lucky to get in the air.

Also, it was a submariner that came up with the idea for the raid.

Jimmy Doolittle was also the first person to fly on instruments only. He had a blacked out canopy.

He also turned around the air war in Europe allowing escort fighters to hunt targets of opportunity.

Tough little guy at 5’4” 140.

so having baldwin and eckert play him was about as well cast as having mark wahlberg play marcus luttrell

 

[BrewingFrog]

so having baldwin and eckert play him was about as well cast as having mark wahlberg play marcus luttrell

Heh. The recent Midway film with Eckhart hamming it up on the deck of Hornet. Big, tall, heroic... Mrs. Brewingfrog wouldn't believe me when I told her he was a little fireplug of a guy.

 

[Frogk]

One of my cousins flew with Doolittle and was in the airplane he landed in the lake in Colombia South Carolina. I never knew of this group.
My cousins daughter lives in Colombia now. My cousin was 92 when he died, in Houston. I have not confirmed this story . I will do research to validate it . Thanks for posting this.

 

[HG73]

so having baldwin and eckert play him was about as well cast as having mark wahlberg play marcus luttrell

Peter Dinklage.

 

[Hoosierfrog]

Peter Dinklage.

I think Jimmy D could post up on Dinklage…

 

[BrewingFrog]

Peter Dinklage.

Tom Cruise.

 

[Aloha Frog]

73 Raiders made it back home. Without the help of everyday Chinese, none would have evaded capture. Japanese troops retaliated by slaughtering 250,000 Chinese civilians. One of those who helped the Raiders was Tung-Sheng (Tom) Liu.

Tung-Sheng Liu, who risked his life to help American pilots in China during WWII, died of pneumonia in Monterey Park at age 92.
Born in China, Mr. Liu helped rescue U.S. airmen of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders who bombed Japanese targets and then crash-landed in China in April 1942.
Mr. Liu came to the U.S. in 1946 to study at the University of Minnesota. He was extremely proud to be named an honorary member of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.
In 1956, Mr. Liu became an aeronautical engineer at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, helping develop the C5 aircraft. After retiring, he moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and was active in community groups such as the Tsinghua University Alumni in South California and the Chinese Committee on Aging. He was a fan of Chinese opera.
Mr. Liu was married for 58 years to Man-Ming Wang Liu, who passed away in 1999. He is dearly missed by his four children — Guangyuan, Tom, Melinda and Sheridan — and three grand-children and two great-grandchildren.

 

[FrogAbroad]

We owe more than we realize to far more individuals than we know, most of whom we'll never hear of.

 

[AroundWorldFrog]

Good thing there was a strong head wind. Those planes couldn't have been much above stall speed. Balls galore.

 

[Froglaw]

If you read the Longmire series by Craig Johnson, his former Sheriff was a Doolittle Raider. Of course it’s fiction but still!

Story line is that the old Sheriff/Doolittle Raider hired Walt Longmire as his deputy after Walt returned from Vietnam.

Steamboat is a great read and one of his shorter novels about the old Sheriff.

Or just start at the beginning with Cold Dish.