OPINION:
On April 9, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, the last surviving member of the famed Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, died at 103 in a hospital in San Antonio, Texas. Seventy-seven years earlier, on April 18, 1942, Cole and 79 fellow Raiders embarked on what became one of the most famous missions of World War II — the first bombing of Japan. Seventy-three eventually come home.
Over the following seven decades Dick Cole attended multiple reunions with his fellow Raiders and in later years scores of funerals as, one by one, the Raiders drifted away, all felled by Lincoln’s “silent artillery of time.”
Over the past 15 years my colleagues at the AVC and I have had the honor of meeting many great heroes of many renowned units of World War II, but none resonated with the American public — especially the World War II generation — like the Doolittle Raiders did.
As it turned out, the Doolittle raid on Japan provided a major boost to America morale in the wake of the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
In the aftermath of that attack President Roosevelt was frantically searching for a way to strike back at Japan. The solution came from Navy Capt. Francis S. Low, who conceived a plan to have Army Air Corps bombers fly off the deck of on aircraft carrier approaching Japan, split up into groups, bomb various Japanese cities and fly on to airfield in China.
The Army posted notices asking for volunteers for a “dangerous mission” and young Lt. Richard Cole immediately signed up.
Once selected, Cole was informed that he would co-pilot alongside the mission’s leader, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, already famous as a military test pilot.
Five-man crews were selected to fly 16 B-25 medium bombers off the aircraft carrier Hornet. Underway from San Francisco, they were informed of the plan to bomb Japan.
Unfortunately, 750 miles from the Japanese home islands the American fleet was discovered by Japanese picket boat. Fearing (correctly as it turned out) that the fleet’s presence would be reported to Tokyo, Doolittle faced a wrenching decision — abort the mission or launch immediately, almost 200 miles further out than planned. Doolittle’s decision came quickly — we’ll go. It also changed a dangerous mission into a possible suicide mission, as it was doubtful that there would be enough fuel to reach China.
“Col. Doolittle gave everybody the chance to bail out,” Cole said. “Nobody did!”
Led by Doolittle at the controls of the lead bomber, the planes took off one by one, until all were airborne — this despite the fact that not one of the pilots had ever done a carrier take-off before.
They flew without incident over Japan, bombed their targets and headed for China. “Unfortunately,” Cole said, “our navigator, Lt. Potter, said that he calculated that we would run out of fuel 180 miles short of The coast.”
Then a miracle occurred. A powerful storm developed, with winds blowing east to west, strong enough to push the planes over the China Coast.
Doolittle gunned his plane to 9000 feet but the aircraft was now shrouded in darkness, rain and thick fog.
“Doolittle was not a chit-chat kind of guy,” Cole said. “There was no conversation except for words that were concerned with the mission.” Cole added, “he was an excellent example of a military leader — he was the crew captain, but he was also a team player. Everybody got their say.”
Doolittle watched the fuel gauge and when the needle hit zero ordered his crew to bail out.
Cole had never parachuted before and as a result, “I pulled the ripcord so hard I gave myself a black eye.”
Falling through the darkness, wind and rain, Cole’s parachute snagged on a pine tree, leaving him dangling 12 feet off the ground.
When morning came he cut himself down and started walking west, away from the Japanese controlled region. Spying a building flying the Nationalist Chinese flag, he went in and was taken by a Nationalist soldier to meet another pilot already there. It was Jimmy Doolittle.
Soon they met up with the other three crew members and, escorted by Chinese Nationalists, traveled through Japanese lines by boat and wagon to the Nationalist provisional capital of Chunking where most of the Raiders were reunited.
Col. Doolittle was distraught, fearing a court-martial because the Raiders had all lost their aircraft.
Back in the United States, however, the reaction was one of jubilation because America had retaliated against Japan “proving that the Japanese were not safe,” as Col. Cole said.
The raid in fact proved to be a turning point in the war. So shocked were the Japanese high command that they concluded that they needed to push the American lines back, by occupying Midway Island. This resulted in the climactic Battle of Midway in which four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk, along with hundreds of highly trained pilots.
Japan never recovered and from then on the United States was on the offensive.
Instead of a court-martial, Col. Doolittle received the Medal of Honor from President Roosevelt and was eventually promoted to Lt. General.
Dick Cole went on to fly the Hump in the China-Burma-India theater in World War II and saw combat duty in the Korean War. He retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 1966 to care for a son who was ill, leaving just short of an assignment that would have led to his promotion to full colonel.
Today, Sen. Rob Portman, Ohio Republican, and Chips Roy, Texas Republican, are leading an effort in Congress to grant Cole a promotion to full colonel so that he can be buried at Arlington Cemetery with full military honors.
At the American Veterans Center, our partnership with the Doolittle Raiders began in 2006 when a number of the Raiders participated in our annual conference. There were about 20 Raiders still alive then and in subsequent years one or more Raiders participate in the National Conference and the National Memorial Day Parade every year.
Dick Cole became a beloved friend; ever the complete gentleman, always happy to meet with anyone, especially young people. He lived life to the fullest.
I remember in particular the evening before Memorial Day, 2015, and Dick was in Washington to serve as grand marshal in the National Memorial Day Parade.
We had all attended a lengthy dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel where wine and spirits flowed freely. Returning to the Mayflower Hotel after midnight the 99–year-old Dick Cole spied the bar and asked his much younger companions, “Does anybody want to stop for a drink before turning in?”
The Doolittle Raiders held annual reunions for many decades and in 1959 the host city Tucson presented them with 80 silver goblets inscribed with their names. Each year the attending Raiders turned over the goblets of those comrades who had died since the last reunion. Their plan was that when just two Raiders remained alive, they would open a bottle of Moet Hennessy cognac vintage 1896 (the year of Jimmy Doolittle’s birth) and have a final toast.
In 2012, however, three of the four living Raiders met in a hotel room at the AVC annual conference and voted to hold the final toast the next year.
In 2013 at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio thousands lined the road to the Air Force museum where 600 invited guests gathered for the historic event.
At the American Veterans Center’s annual Salute to American Valor, gala the tradition of an annual toast to the Raiders lives on.
In 2012, Dick Cole recorded a statement designating the AVC as the official keepers of the Raiders Legacy. The Raiders established the “Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Wings of Valor Award” with the AVC that year and a list of prospective awardees was drawn up which will allow us to continue presenting the award for years of come.
The first recipient of the award was Gen. Richard Myers (USAF-Ret.), former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and chairmen of the American Veterans Center advisory board.
In a toast to the Raiders, Gen. Myers said, “You gave us hope when there was great uncertainty in the Land; you showed courage when many were afraid and you conducted yourselves with honor providing all of us a legacy of freedom — here’s to the Doolittle Raiders.”
It is a toast that the American Veterans Center will offer for many years to come.
Jim Roberts is president of the American Veterans Center.
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