Last daring Doolittle Raider dies at age of 103
Print Edition
The last surviving member of a morale-boosting secret United States air raid that stunned Japan during World War II has died.
Lieutenant Colonel Dick Cole 鈥渉as slipped the surly bonds of Earth & reunited w/his fellow Doolittle Raiders,鈥 General Dave Goldfein, United States Air Force chief of staff, wrote on Twitter.
鈥淲e offer our eternal thanks & condolences to his family. We will proudly carry the torch he & his fellow Raiders handed us.鈥
US media reported that Cole, who died aged 103 on Tuesday in Texas, was the last survivor of 80 Doolittle Raiders air crew members.
Cole was co-pilot of the plane led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle who led the raid by 16 B-25 bombers, each with a five-man crew.
On April 18, 1942 鈥 four months after Japan鈥檚 surprise attack against the US at Pearl Harbor 鈥 the US Army Air Force bombers took off from the deck of a US Navy aircraft carrier that sailed to within a few hundred kilometers of Japan.
鈥淢edium bombers had never been flown from a carrier,鈥 the National Museum of the US Air Force said on its website. 鈥淭he raiders dropped their bombs on oil storage facilities, factories and military installations.鈥
鈥淎lthough the brilliant strike caused relatively little physical damage, it stunned the Japanese population 鈥 their embarrassed leaders had promised the mainland would never be attacked,鈥 the museum said.
On the home front, news of the US attack caused morale to soar 鈥渇rom the depths to which it plunged following Japan鈥檚 many early victories.鈥
In 2014, former President Barack Obama awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the 80 Doolittle Raiders.
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