Latest news flash:
2/12/2004
2004 Reunion information is available at: http://www.a6consultants.com/doolittle.htm
1/19/04
I just got word that Col. Travis Hoover, pilot of the 2nd aircraft off the Hornet passed away last night.
12/4/03
It is the webmasters regret to inform the reader that Mrs. Lee Manch, wife of Raider #3 copilot Jacob "Shorty" Manch died Oct. 29th. Here is a link to the obituary: http://rexburgstandardjournal.com/articles/2003/11/05/obituaries/obit04.txt
4/25/03
There were nine Raiders at this year's reunion including: Bill Bower, Richard Cole, Jacob DeShazer, Tom Griffin, Nolan Herndon, Robert Hite, Frank Kappeler, Chase Nielsen, and David Thatcher.
4/7/03
Lt. Col Edgar McElroy, pilot of the 13th Doolittle Raider aircraft, died at his home in Lubbock, TX on April 4th, 2003. There are now 18 surviving Raiders. An obituary is posted here:
http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/040503/obi_040503062.shtml
4/5/03
I learned two days ago (4/3/2003) that Robert Wall died on Sept. 19, 2002. Seaman Wall was the fellow who had his arm cut off by the propellor of the sixteenth aircraft. The crew of the USS Hornet apparently took up a collection for him before he left the ship in Hawaii. He was honorably discharged from the US Navy as a result of his injury and worked for Ryan Aeronautical for 39 years. I had spoken to him a few times over the phone. An obituary can be read here:
http://obituaries.signonsandiego.com/view-class.php?id=3451&t=c
2/5/2003
I received word yesterday that Raider Harry McCool died Saturday.
Here's the obituary, submitted by a friend of the family and Raider fan, Chris Mann.
Final Flight for Famed Doolittle Raider
Retired USAF Lt. Col. Harry C. McCool, last surviving crewmember of
plane #4 of the famous WWII "Doolittle Tokyo Raid" passed away Saturday,
February 1st, at Air Force Village II in San Antonio Texas. He was 84.
McCool was born in LaJunta Colorado on April 19, 1918, and was raised
in the panhandle of Oklahoma, where he earned his degree in teaching at
Oklahoma Southwest State Teacher's College. He joined the Army Air Corps
in March 1940 and was accepted into the first navigator school at the
University of Miami, Florida, taught by Pan Am.
After he was comissioned, he posted to the 17th Bomb Group and was
eventually sent to Columbia, South Carolina to train as a member of the
famous "Doolittle Raiders." The all volunteer group left San Francisco
harbor via the USS Hornet aircraft carrier and on April 18, 1942 made
history as the first to bomb Tokyo and other Japanese cities after Pearl
Harbor. Only 19 of the original 80 members remain today.
After the raid, he remained in the China-Burma-India theater and flew 13
missions against Imperial Japanese forces; then on to a US Bond tour of
the United States. He then posted to the 9th Air Force in England as
navigator on B-26 bombers, planning and participating in many D-day
missions over France and Germany, which he counted as his greatest
contribution to the war effort.
After the war he remained in the Air Force and participated in many
projects with Strategic Air Command and even had a stint with the CIA
during the 1950s.
He retired from active duty in 1968 after almost 30 years service. He
then worked in Civil Service for the Dept. of the Navy in Hawaii until
his "second" retirement in 1988, when he moved to his present home at the
Air Force Village II in San Antonio, TX.
McCool was preceded in death by his wife Laverne in 2001, and is
survived by his sister Nellie Rose McCool of Colorado Springs,
Colorado;three children, Pat Elliott of Colorado Springs, Peg Jensen of
Colorado Springs, Jim McCool of Richmond, VA, 10 grandchildren and
approximately 14 great-grandchildren.
At the present time, services are closed the public. Donations in memory
of Harry C. McCool may be made to the Doolittle Scholarship Fund and
sent directly to the Communities Foundation of Texas, 4605 Live Oak St.,
Dallas, TX 75204
1-7-2003
This is actually old news, but Raider Clayton J. Campbell died Nov. 17, 2002. You can read one of the obituaries here:
http://www.doolittleraider.com/80_brave_men.htm#Campbell
In other news, Raider Todd Joyce's (pilot of aircraft #10) son Todd Joyce has gotten his website www.doolittleraider.com off to a flying start. There is a new message board at: http://www.doolittleraider.com/forum/index.php
11-3-2002
I am adding a new page to my website at www.doolittleraid.com. It is a listing of locations to visit that have Doolittle Raid and related exhibits or artifacts. Also check out www.jimmydoolittleraiders.com for their next reunion...
10/3/2002
The trees planted in Columbia, S.C. for each of the Raiders will be receiving permenant plaques so that they will hopefully not be neglected again.
See articles at: http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/4186788.htm
and: http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/4209627.htm
6/6/2002
Hank Potter died May 27, 2002 -Memorial Day at the age of 83. He was born in Pierre, SD on September 22, 1918, to Archie and Emily Wilson Potter.
He was intermed at Capital Memorial Park, Pflugerville, TX with Full Military Honors.
He is survived by several of his children.
Obituary is here.
More write up here
and here:http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:2HsIICq5ix8C:www.austin360.com/auto_docs/epaper/editions/wednesday/metro_state_1.html+Doolittle+Raiders&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Ceremony honoring Raiders:
http://www.pacom.mil/imagery/archive/0105photos/010525.htm
5/8/2002
J. Royden Stork
LOS ANGELES (AP) - J. Royden Stork, a decorated bomber pilot who took part in a daring aerial raid on Tokyo following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, died Thursday of a heart attack. He was 85.
Stork was among a handful of pilots led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle to bomb Tokyo in April 1942. The dangerous mission was orchestrated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt who wanted to boost sagging morale at home after the Japanese sunk most of the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Stork was co-pilot of one of 16 land-based B-25 bombers carrying 80 men and launched from a warship off the Japanese coast. The raid was successful as it destroyed military installations and major businesses. Stork's plane hit a chemical plant until it ran out of gas over occupied China.
None of the bombers involved in the raid were downed because of enemy fire. Of the 16, one crash-landed, three were ditched in coastal waters, one landed in Russia and the other 11 in China. Two of the 80 men drowned, and of eight captured, three were executed by Japanese and one died in prison camp.
Stork returned home and continued to fly until he and the other 73 surviving Doolittle Raiders were grounded when it was learned that the Japanese had placed a $5,000 bounty on each of the bombers' heads. Stork was discharged in 1946.
For his heroic duty, he was given the Distinguished Flying Cross; the Air Medal; and the Chinese Army, Navy and Air Corps Medal Class A First Grade.
From:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-000032446may07.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dobituaries
Mr. Stork at the recent (April 17-21, 2002) Doolittle Raiders Reunion signing a book.
Also:
http://www.sunspot.net/news/obituaries/bal-md.delse07may07.story?coll=bal-news-obituaries
J. Royden Stork,
85, who as co-pilot of a B-25 bomber took part in a daring raid on Tokyo on April 18, 1942, and latxer became a Hollywood makeup artist, died of a heart attack Thursday at Century City Hospital in California.
Mr. Stork was co-pilot of the 10th of 16 land-based B-25 bombers to take off from the deck of the USS Hornet -- a feat never before attempted.
Flying at tree-top level, Mr. Stork's plane correctly bombed its assigned chemical plant and flew on until, like the others, it ran out of gas over occupied China.
"The 16 planes didn't do much damage, but we sure screwed up their war machine," Mr. Stork told The Boston Herald last month during 60th anniversary observances of the raid. "They had to pull back some of their forces to protect the [Japanese] homeland, and some of their military leaders were so humiliated that they committed suicide."
Not one of Colonel Doolittle's planes was lost to enemy fire. Of the 16, one crash-landed, three were ditched in coastal waters, one landed in Russia and the other 11 in China. Two of the 80 men drowned, and of eight captured, three were executed by Japanese and one died in prison camp.
Mr. Stork was among a dozen or so of the fewer than two dozen members of the Doolittle Raiders Association still living who gathered last month in Columbia, S.C., for the group's 60th anniversary reunion.
After the war, Mr. Stork made his career in Hollywood as a makeup artist for Fox Studios. Among his credits were feature films such as the 1949 Twelve O'Clock High starring Gregory Peck as an officer commanding American pilots in England during the war.
Last year, he was among the veterans who attended the Honolulu premiere of the blockbuster movie Pearl Harbor. He also was one of eight surviving Doolittle Raiders to meet with scriptwriter Randall Wallace, to complain that Colonel Doolittle and the raid were incorrectly depicted in the film.
• Lt. HORACE ELLIS CROUCH, navigator/bombardier
• Staff Sgt. EDWIN WESTON HORTON JR., gunner
• Sgt. GEORGE ELMER LARKIN JR., engineer
• Lt. RICHARD OUTCALT JOYCE, pilot
• Lt. J. ROYDEN STORK, co-pilot
http://www.legacy.com/LegacySubPage1.asp?Page=APStory&Id=3133
