Last Doolittle Raider dies. You should feel small in comparison

This is a couple months old, because I have not been posting much lately. OK, not much at all for about two years. Hey, I've been busy.

Anyway, the last surviving man who went on the April 1942 Doolittle Raid on Tokyo during World War II died April 9 at the age of 103.

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Richard "Dick" Cole, the last surviving member of World War II’s Doolittle Raiders, died Tuesday in Texas at the age of 103.
Cole, originally from Dayton, Ohio, was mission commander Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot in the 1942 bombing attack less than five months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.The bold raid on Japan is credited with providing the United States with a morale boost and helping turn the tide of the war in the Pacific.

These guys were all genuine bad asses. They took off knowing they didn't have enough fuel to get home. Hell, they took off from an aircraft carrier, which had never been done before with the bombers they flew, and they hoped to be able to make it to China, where they hoped to be assisted in escaping by the locals. Hope is not a plan.

Because the planes were launched farther from Japan than planned because the U.S. ships carrying the raiders were spotted by Japanese fishing boats well before the planned launch point, most of the aircraft ran out of fuel right at the Chinese coastline. Read the book "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" to get caught up on this.

Anyway, I think the main takeaway from this is that you will never, ever, ever in your life be half the bad ass this dude was.




The raid didn't really do much damage, but it was a huge boost for the American public. Way too many of the raiders didn't survive, and many others suffered for years in Japanese POW camps. All of those who went on the raid deserve our thanks. Lt. Col. Cole, rest in peace, job well done.