Veterans Day is a special one this year as the Doolittle raiders met for perhaps the last time:
The surviving Doolittle Raiders, now all in their 90s, have raised a glass to their place in history for their daring World War II attack on Japan during a final ceremonial toast on Saturday to their fallen comrades.
Amind thousands of fans and a B-25 bomber flying overhead, the remaining four members opened a bottle of cognac they had been saving at the National Museum of the U.S. Airforce near Dayton, Ohio, as celebration for the 70-year anniversary of their mission.
The liquor was made in 1896, the year Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle was born.
Doolittle, who died in 1993, lead 80 men on the first US airstrike on Japan in WWII in retaliation to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning said America was at a low point, after the attack and other Axis successes, before 'these men who showed the nation that we were nowhere near defeat'.
Only four of the men are still alive and sadly today's commemoration was referred to as the last.
Museum officials estimated some 5,000 people turned out for Veterans Day weekend events honoring the 1942 mission credited with rallying American morale and throwing the Japanese off balance. Rest of article with some good pictures
1 comment:
May God continue to bless all who have served, all who are currently serving, and all who have died.
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