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.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Doolittle's Raiders Goblets-- Part 1

From the Photorecon Site at Aviation, Space, History.

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, has a restored Mitchell B-25 given to the place in 1958 displayed to appear as if taking off the deck of the USS Hornet.

Behind it is an exhibit featuring a glass display case. It was not on that famous raid, but it much tied to its history. In it are 80 silver goblets, one for each man who went on the mission. Each name is engraved on it twice: once right-side up and the other upside down.

They were used at each reunion for the annual toast. When the last Raider dies, the public will get the chance to see it.

The Reunions started in 1946 to celebrate Doolittle's birthday and became an annual event hosted by a different city each year. In 1959, the city of Tucson, Arizona presented the goblets, one to each Raider.

The goblets were later presented to the Superintendent of the USAF Academy. In 2005, the goblets got their permanent home at the Air Force Museum.

Some of the Greatest of the Greatest Generation. --GreGen

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