Doolittle Raiders Last toast.
 

Live

I remember reading about the Doolittle crew getting together back in the early 1980's.

When I was a young man there was very few WWI Vets left

Today I'm a much older man, and the WWI guys are gone.

Sadly I will see the day that there's no longer a man left from WWII

Thank you men for all that you've done.

My Dad is a WWII vet. He turns 90 this month. I'll pass your word to him.

at the National Air Force Museum at Wright-Patt, they have all of the chalices....each one overturned for a fallen hero.

One of my favorite books when I was a kid was "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" about the Doolittle raid. I was and still am in awe at the bravery of those aircrew. Almost a suicide mission to show the Japanese that we could reach them and to boost a flagging American morale. That was truly the great generation. Sad that spirit of patriotism and sacrifice in America is just about gone. Snapper, give your dad a big salute from this old Navy guy. God love em all.

Thank you very much for posting this.

Dusty in here.....

Just finished.
"this concludes the presentation, and their mission"

It appears that they are replaying it now.

Tell him my kids (13 &17) have grown up knowing about "The Great Generation".
His sacrifice, and those with whom he fought, are not forgotten.

Grandpa died at 100 1/2 years old this summer.

he was a photo re-con in Guam.


We Also knew a friend in flying boats PBY's as an engineer. they had to climb through the wing to check the oil levels in the engines in flight............that's a sorta "gumption and spunk" that is lost on the modern kids of today.

Doolittle Raiders Last toast.
 

A sincere thank you. One of the things I have that I most treasure are my grandfather's WW2 service medals. It breaks my heart to see what's happening to this country knowing that people like him fought, suffered and died for it and for a way of life that is being systematically dismantled right before our eyes. Godspeed to the Raiders.

My dad is a WWII Pacifice Theatre vet who just turned 89 3 weeks ago. Every year he and my mom went to his division (96th Infantry, the Deadeyes) reunion, until a couple of years ago. All of his buddies had died, or couldn't come due to age related infirmities, and it was no longer enjoyable. He's realistic, but sad about it at the same time.
The Greatest Generation is slowly and quietly slipping away, and all of us owe them a lot.

My dad is also a Pacific Theater vet, turned 90 this summer. We went to his reunion in August, 41st Div, 162nd infantry (the Butchers). They were going to stop doing the reunions, but decided that they would keep doing them till there wasn't anyone left.... The thing is, I don't think the reunions will ever stop as there were many family members of vets who have passed away. The great thing is that I get to see him everyday, so in a way it's Veterans Day every day.

A toast to all who have served...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1384067292.jpg

A good read, "Calculated Risk", by Jonna Doolittle Hoppes.

Knocking "the current generation, or the younger generation" in a Vet thread sort of rubs me the wrong way. Lets not forget there are a couple of hundred thousand young Vets that have been in the desert, in some of the most crappy places on earth, for the last 13 years commiting brave acts every day. Its a virtualy forgotten war, and its still going on. Ok, Im done.

Amen to that. Godspeed to all that have or are currently serving our nation.

I don't see any knocking of today's veterans in this thread. Perhaps knocking the current generation but not the vets of today. They are just as great as they were years ago.

Vets of today spend multiple tours in combat zones and while perhaps only deployed for six months they can go back in a year or so. I know some who have been deployed two or three times. I certainly salute each and every one of them.

The current generation (or for that fact even past generations that have not served their country) are missing something in their lives.

As Remembrance Day comes up I would like to thank all those that gave their lives and their service in WW2. The dropping of the atomic bomb helped shorten the war considerably.

Regarding the PBY Canso I was a flight engineer on this in the early 1970's. Don't forget this aircraft was only about 30 years old then. We flew groceries to a fish camp in Northern Manitoba, Canada and frozen fish back to Winnipeg.

Some trivia about this aircraft. The flt. eng. sat between the engines and the noise was extreme. The F/e had all the engine guages, carb heat, fuel guages were unreliable so we used to have a lot of fuel put in (it had a range of about 26 hours and these aircraft were used in WW2 for submarine patrol). I believe there were no oil guages but if there were they were unreliable. Fuel externally was measured with a wooden dipstick.

I wish I had taken pics of the pilots' instrument panel and the f/e's but I don't.
The engines were the same as the DC3. It was called a pig boat because performance was sluggish. There are not many PBY's around anymore. Expensive to maintain and run. Cheers. G.

Only 3 of the last 4 attended
 

This is slated as the last 'toast'...

4 are left, but only 3 could make it.



Final toast to WWII Doolittle Raiders: 'Peace'

Jim, thanks for sharing the link.

Recall seeing a few members and General Doolittle speak many years ago at the EAA convention. A memorable emotional evening that brought chills. Gen. Doolittle autographed a book for a friend of mine too. The significance of the raid is monumental to what America stands for. Too bad its not discussed further in schools today or fully understood by most Americans.

Respect. Sorry to see others here getting heated about any vets period. Especially on this thread.

----- On a technical side note and navigation of the era. If anyone is interested, I have available a WW2 Navy sextant. Just one of those things that's been sitting packed away for years and time for someone else to appreciate it for a collection. Bendix made and in beautiful condition. Can still today use for land, sea or air. When your GPS looses its power, you'll realize how great a sextant is LOL. Brass and aluminum with common military hammered black coating. Has a mechanical wind time average, remote backlight enhances for night (uses common 2 D-cell bat.), hang / mount bracket, bakelite hard protective hard case, operators - servicing - parts manuals (reprint). Will part with it very reasonable to someone who will appreciate it and not just for resale. PM if interested.---

Another thing to remember is that after the raid, an estimated 250,000 Chinese civilians were killed by the Japanese as part of the hunt for the Doolittle Raider crews.

Lots of people sacrificed in a variety of ways. War in indeed hell.