Although the final toast ceremony at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is not open to the public, The Pentagon Channel will host a live broadcast beginning at 2 p.m. Alaska time. The live stream will also be available at www.nationalmuseum.af.mil and www.af.mil.
On April 18, 1942, 80 men achieved the unimaginable when they took off from an aircraft carrier on a top secret mission to bomb Japan. Led by Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle, these men came to be known as the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders. Today, just four of the men survive: Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, co-pilot of Crew No. 1; Lt. Col. Robert L. Hite, co-pilot of Crew No. 16; Lt. Col. Edward J. Saylor, engineer-gunner of Crew No. 15; and Staff Sgt. David J. Thatcher, engineer-gunner of Crew No. 7. At this time, Cole, Saylor and Thatcher plan to participate on-site and Hite hopes to watch the ceremony from his residence due to health concerns.
In 1959, the city of Tucson, Ariz., presented the Doolittle Raiders with a set of silver goblets, each bearing the name of one of the 80 men who flew on the mission. At each of their past reunions, the surviving Raiders would conduct their solemn "Goblet Ceremony." After toasting the Raiders who died since their last meeting, they would then turn the deceased men's goblets upside down.
For more information on the Doolittle Raid and its historic significance to the nation in World War II, visit http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/misc-42/dooltl.htm
(Editor's Note: this article is localized and edited based on an Oct. 25, 2013, piece by Rob Bardua, National Museum of the Air Force, published on Air Force Link)
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