Last of the Doolittle Raiders

[Magic Static]

Today in Missoula, MT they held a military service for the last of the Doolittle Raiders. Thatcher was 94. In his honor they flew a B1 bomber from S.D. for a low altitude flyover at the ceremony. Well it really didn't get as low as I thought it might but the noise was unbelievably loud. I was hoping to get a good look as we usually only see contrails from those bombers way up there.
The Doolittle Raid was America's response to Pearl Harbor. 120 men took a one-way flight to bomb Japan.

 

[osu1991]

http://cordilleramontana.worldnow.c...i-doolittle-raider-david-thatcher-passes-away

Montana icon, WWII "Doolittle Raider" David Thatcher passes away

A piece of U.S. history has passed away, as David Thatcher, one of the last living members of the famed World War II Doolittle Raiders, died at age 94 on Wednesday in Missoula.
Thatcher received several medals and honors for his bravery in the Pacific and European theaters of battle.
Thatcher, who served in the Army Air Forces as a member of Flight Crew No. 7, was part of the air raid led by then-Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle. It marked the United States' first strike on the Japanese islands in World War II.


General Mark Welsh, the Air Force Chief of Staff, shared the following information on Facebook:

America and its Air Force lost a true hero this morning with the passing of Staff Sgt. David Thatcher, one of the two surviving Doolittle Raiders. Thatcher, then a corporal, was engineer/gunner in the back end of a B-25, one of 16 sent on that historic suicide mission to bomb Japan. They stunned that country, punctured its aura of invulnerability, and gave America hope just 4 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His actions were, in the words of the logistics officer for the mission: "Beyond the limits of human exertion, beyond the call of friendship, beyond the call of duty." He inspired a nation and lived a life devoted to all we hold dear as Airmen. Betty and I will keep Staff Sgt. Thatcher and all who loved him in our thoughts and prayers

 

[Bobby]

RIP...

 

[Magic Static]

Sloppy reporting by our newspaper, but that is to be expected as they have no photographers or reporters. There is actually one of the Doolittle Raiders left. He was at the ceremony. Doolittle's co-pilot.

 

[KE4EST]

R.I.P.