From the April 19, 2012, Army Times.
Twenty B-25 planes preformed a fly-over and the surviving Raiders had their annual private toast.
Lt. Col. Richard Cole, 96, "We honor the people we lost, and we remember them, and then we enjoy the camaraderie of being together again."
Cole is a Dayton native, now living in Comfort, Texas. He was Col. Doolittle's co-pilot on the famous raid. Cole later remarked, "We don't like being singled out. We were just part of a big team."
The other four Raiders and where they live:
Griffin-- Cincinnati suburbs
Saylor-- Puyallup, Washington
Thatcher-- Missoula, Montana
Hite-- Nashville, Tennessee (Couldn't make it to the 70th because of health issues.)
According to Hite, referring to Pearl harbor, "We were saying, 'You started it, and we're going to finish it.'"
He Shaoying, 76, daughter of Zhejiang, a Chinese provincial official who helped hide and take care ofDoolittle, Cole and other survivors was also there.
For the 71st Reunion in 2013, they are going to Eglin AFB in Florida by Fort Walton Beach (where they did some of their pre-raid training.
--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.
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