Monthly Archives: June 2016

…and then there was one.

35C6062A00000578-0-image-a-3_1467192174496Just one surviving Doolittle Raider:

The final salute: Last surviving member of historic 1942 Doolittle bombing raid on Japan that avenged Pearl Harbor bids farewell to his comrade-at-arms

The final Doolittle Raider, who was one of 80 fliers to take off on the first bombing attack of mainland Japan following Pearl Harbor, attended the funeral of his last remaining comrade-in-arms.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Richard ‘Dick’ Cole, from Comfort, Texas, is now the last of the brave airmen who took off from the USS Hornet on April 18, 1942.

He stood beside his comrade, and friend retired Staff Sergeant David Johnathan Thatcher, who died in Missoula hospital in Montana last week. The 94-year-old former airman suffered a stroke before dying.