Jim Craik
Lifetime Supporter
I passed up my usual run in 2264 to attend a special event.
Today, they had the 70th Anniversary Celebration of the famous Doolittle raid on Tokyo, April 18, 1942.
It was held aboard the USS Hornet (CV-12), tied up to the very same Alameda NAS pier where 70 years earlier the USS Hornet (CV-8) was loaded with 16 B-25 bombers, bound for Japan and glory.
The three surviving "Raiders" and General Doolittle's daughter were there and I got to meet one of my first heros. Ever since around the age of eight when I first saw the movie "30 seconds over Tokyo".
Today I got to talk to David Thatcher, the turret gunner on Ted Lawson's plane and hear them talk of their experiences.
Well, now that I think about it, when I say I met Mr Thatcher, that meeting consisted of a befuddled me stammering out "thank you Sir".
Late in the afternoon, as the band played of the Blue Yonder, they had a fly by of a B-25........... quite a day.
Today, they had the 70th Anniversary Celebration of the famous Doolittle raid on Tokyo, April 18, 1942.
It was held aboard the USS Hornet (CV-12), tied up to the very same Alameda NAS pier where 70 years earlier the USS Hornet (CV-8) was loaded with 16 B-25 bombers, bound for Japan and glory.
The three surviving "Raiders" and General Doolittle's daughter were there and I got to meet one of my first heros. Ever since around the age of eight when I first saw the movie "30 seconds over Tokyo".
Today I got to talk to David Thatcher, the turret gunner on Ted Lawson's plane and hear them talk of their experiences.
Well, now that I think about it, when I say I met Mr Thatcher, that meeting consisted of a befuddled me stammering out "thank you Sir".
Late in the afternoon, as the band played of the Blue Yonder, they had a fly by of a B-25........... quite a day.
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