And Then There Was One... Doolittle Raid

[Bob Womack]

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. James Doolittle promised his guys a big bash when they all got back to the States. They all didn't make it back but the bash happened and led to more reunions. At each a role was called and the fallen were honored. Eventually a benefactor had a suite of saluting goblets created. Each goblet had the name of a Raider engraved in it twice, right side up and upside down, so that a Raider's goblet could be inverted when he died. Doolittle put aside a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Brandy for the last Raiders to salute the fallen when all the others had died. The bottle was opened at the reunion in 2013 when the last three surviving Raiders attended. Today the last survivor, 101 year old Richard E. Cole, Doolittle's co-pilot, conducted the final commemoration and officially retired the goblets.

For more history, may I suggest the monograph Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, by Raider Ted Lawson or, for a broader view, The First Heroes by Craig Nelson.

Bob

[fazool]

Bob,

I wasn't familiar until this week.

I was at Wright Patterson AFB on Tuesday and we paused our meetings to go outside and watch the B-25 formation flyover made in conjunction with this event.

There was a flyover, then a missing-man formation flyover, followed by a supersonic B-1B flyover.

It was the true definition of awe-inspiring.

[Bob Womack]

I witnessed take off of B-25 40-2168 Miss Hap taking off with an escort of three P-51s in 1994. Thunderous. B-25J 44-30129 Wild Cargo lives right down the road from me.



To quote a current Air Force man, "We stand on the shoulders of great men."

Bob

[Don Lampson]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. James Doolittle promised his guys a big bash when they all got back to the States. They all didn't make it back but the bash happened and led to more reunions. At each a role was called and the fallen were honored. Eventually a benefactor had a suite of saluting goblets created. Each goblet had the name of a Raider engraved in it twice, right side up and upside down, so that a Raider's goblet could be inverted when he died. Doolittle put aside a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Brandy for the last Raiders to salute the fallen when all the others had died. The bottle was opened at the reunion in 2013 when the last three surviving Raiders attended. Today the last survivor, 101 year old Richard E. Cole, Doolittle's co-pilot, conducted the final commemoration and officially retired the goblets.

For more history, may I suggest the monograph Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, by Raider Ted Lawson or, for a broader view, The First Heroes by Craig Nelson.

Bob

Is that an old photo? Several goblets are right side up, with one missing?

Don

[Kerbie]

It's a great story... and they took off from "Shangri-La."

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Don Lampson

Is that an old photo? Several goblets are right side up, with one missing?

Don

Yes it is an old photo. The portable cabinet was used when there were enough Raiders left for the set to travel to the reunions. The goblets and brandy bottle now reside in a lovely oak cabinet in the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio. I couldn't find a good pic of it.

The one missing goblet is down front next to the bottle in the pic.

Bob

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Kerbie

It's a great story... and they took off from "Shangri-La."

Interestingly, President Roosevelt was so enamored with his Shangri-La ruse that the Navy renamed an Essex-class aircraft carrier that was on the builder's ways in Norfolk (the USS Kearsarge) to the USS Shangri-La (CV-38) in order to commemorate the mission. A later carrier, CV-33, was given the name USS Kearsarge when she was christened in 1945.

Ironically the keel of the Shangri-La was emblazoned with the name Kearsarge and stayed that way until she was scrapped in 1988.

Bob

[Wadcutter]

Bob, My Dad was aboard the other carrier on the Doolittle Raid, Enterprise. Although The Big E was not carrying any B-25's for the raid, she was along as escort. Because Enterprise was escorting Hornet on the Doolittle Raid, she was out of position to support U.S. forces in The Battle of Coral Sea in May of '42 when the Japs were trying to control the Coral Sea with an invasion of Port Moresby in southeast New Guinea. As you probably know Bob, we lost Lexington at Coral Sea and Yorktown was heavily damaged but repaired in time to participate in the pivotal Battle of Midway in early June of '42. The Battle of Coral Sea was the only major engagement of the Pacific War that Enterprise didn't participate in. If Enterprise hadn't been chosen to escort Hornet on the Doolittle Raid, and was instead dispatched to the Coral Sea, well, I might not be sitting here right now typing this. Ha!

[Bob Womack]

Fascinating. If my dad had made it to submarines instead of into classified documents for radar research at Chicago Pier, who knows whether I would have been born.

Bob

Originally Posted by Wadcutter

Bob, My Dad was aboard the other carrier on the Doolittle Raid, Enterprise. Although The Big E was not carrying any B-25's for the raid, she was along as escort. Because Enterprise was escorting Hornet on the Doolittle Raid, she was out of position to support U.S. forces in The Battle of Coral Sea in May of '42 when the Japs were trying to control the Coral Sea with an invasion of Port Moresby in southeast New Guinea. As you probably know Bob, we lost Lexington at Coral Sea and Yorktown was heavily damaged but repaired in time to participate in the pivotal Battle of Midway in early June of '42. The Battle of Coral Sea was the only major engagement of the Pacific War that Enterprise didn't participate in. If Enterprise hadn't been chosen to escort Hornet on the Doolittle Raid, and was instead dispatched to the Coral Sea, well, I might not be sitting here right now typing this. Ha!

[Wadcutter]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Fascinating. If my dad had made it to submarines instead of into classified documents for radar research at Chicago Pier, who knows whether I would have been born.

Bob

...but for the grace of God Bob, but for the grace of God.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Wadcutter

...but for the grace of God Bob, but for the grace of God.

No joke.

Bob

[Pitar]

I read Lawson's book when I was just a kid and still remember with vivid detail their mission, crash, and escape to safety through Chinese cooperation with Lawson losing his leg to amputation along the way. He crashed The Ruptured Duck in the sea just offshore at night. It was an amazing story for this 12 year old to fathom of men, courage and a mission they knew was high risk for no return. At that time I knew my own Pop had been a B-17 pilot flying in the ETO at 20 years old. I reflected on that as a 20 y/o crew chief in the USAF and could not imagine being the same person he was at that age, or any of those guys, commanding aircraft and crew in those times of conflict. It might explain why my Pop got up and left the theater during the movie Top Gun. His experience was not a Hollywood version.