Dolittle’s Raiders Kenneth Riege

Dolittle's Raiders

By Kenneth Riege, USAFVeteran

Since September 18th will mark the 74th Anniversary of the United States Air Force as its own separate branch of the military, I want to share this story of one of the most daring and heroic missions ever accomplished. The actual damage inflicted was minimal, but for a country still hurting from the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor, this raid was a shot in the arm that this country so dearly needed.

I can recall after joining the Air Force in May 1985 learning about the main pioneers on aviation: the Wright Brothers (which I found interesting since I too was originally from Dayton, OH), General Billy Mitchell (WW1), General Henry “Hap” Arnold (WW2), and of course, Jimmy Doolittle (WW2). I would be remiss to not say there are many others who made an impact on the history of the Air Force and to date there are *19 Air Force Medal of Honor Recipients. *Any Army/Air Corps members who received the Medal of Honor prior to 1 July 1948 are listed with the US Army MOH numbers. Jimmy Doolittle’s MOH falls under this category.

Here I am with Lt. Colonel Richard “Dick” Cole in October 2017 at an event called Skyball in Dallas, TX. Sadly, Lt. Colonel Cole passed away in April 2019 at the age of 103. He was a true American Hero and Legend, and I am so honored to have gotten to meet him.

These are pictures of the goblets that were on display at Skyball 15.

I am not going to go into a lot of detail about the raid itself. This I will leave to each reader to do some research of their own or to read one of the many books that have been written about this amazing event in American Military History.

I love American History, and in particular our Military History, so for me to get to meet

Here is a picture of the B-25’s that were part of the Doolittle’s Raiders. I Cannot imagine the amount of planning it took to pull this off.

someone from such a spectacular event was one of those “pinch yourself moments.” Little did I know that one day I would stand side by side with Lt. Colonel Richard “Dick” Cole who was Jimmy Doolittle’s co- pilot and the last surviving member of “The Doolittle Raiders.”

Each year, since the 1940’s the remaining Raiders held a reunion, but it wasn’t until 1960 that the Raiders were accompanied by eighty goblets inscribed with the name of each Doolittle Raider and a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Cognac. They had chosen the year of 1896 to honor the birth year of their fearless leader. Each year, the Raiders would make a toast and then turn over the goblet of their fallen comrades.

Now fast forward to Skyball 15 where I was so fortunate to be there and to meet Lt. Colonel Cole and to participate in a toast to all the Doolittle Raiders. WOW what an honor for this Air Force Veteran who not so long ago had first learned about these amazing men and their heroic feat and to now be in the presence of the last one. Life is good.

If you would like to see a video of Lt. Colonel Cole performing his toast at Skyball, just Google “Richard Cole at Skyball 15” and it will take you to the YouTube video of that wonderful evening.

As always, I end each story with a quote from a Medal of Honor Recipient. I usually get one from the Medal of Honor Quote Book, but in this case since Jimmy Doolittle is not in that book, I searched the internet to find some different quotes from him and I found the best one.

“Just try to make the world a better place for your having been here.”

Yes, sir this is something we can all live by.

Side note: On 10 April 1985, then Lt. General (three stars) Jimmy Doolittle was promoted to General (four stars) by President Ronald Reagan. General Doolittle served our great country from 1917 to 1985 having gone from the rank of Private to 4-Star General and served during WW1, WW2, Korea, and Vietnam along with many other encounters. It is a great honor for me to have worn the same uniform as General Doolittle and to be able to write this story about him and his amazing “Doolittle Raiders” who helped secure the freedoms we enjoy today.