From June 23, 2010 Petaluma (Ca) Press Democrat "Frank Kappeler, one of Doolittle's Raiders dies at age 96" by Chris Smith.
Died June 23, 2010.
He was bombardier of plane #11 and died June 23rd in Santa Rosa, California. He was one of 79 US Army Air Corps volunteers for the mission. He was one of seven survivors at the time of his death (there are five now). He bailed out over China when the B-25's engines stalled. All five crew members survived. The whole crew was reunited 48 hours later and the accompanying photo taken.
Mr. Kappeler served the rest of the war in the European Theater, completing 53 combat missions and served the rest of his career in the Army Air Corps/US Air Force, before retiring in 1966.
Only four Raiders attended the Reunion in Dayton, Ohio, in 2010 and he was too ill to attend. He was born in 1914.
His #11 targeted Yokohama, Japan. At one point in the flight, Japanese fighters were so close he could see their faces. The crew might have shot down two of the fighters.
After their uniting 48 hours after the attack, the crew did not reunite until 1945.
One of the Greatest of the Greatest. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
No comments:
Post a Comment