Doolittle Raiders
Dayton native Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, 96, was the co-pilot of Lt. Col. Jimmy Dolittle, who led the first Army Air Force B-25 raid on Japan. Cole, of Comfort, Texas, flew missions in the China-Burma-India region during World War II after the Tokyo mission. Cole served 28 years in the Air Force, including time at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Maj. Thomas C. Griffin, 95, of Cincinnati, served as the navigator on the ninth plane to take off from the Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet to bomb Japan. After the raid, the Wisconsin native flew missions in the Mediterranean until he was shot down July 3, 1943. The German army held him as a prisoner until the end of the war. He retired from his accounting business in 1980.
Lt. Col. Robert L. Hite, 92, of Nashville, Tenn., was the co-pilot on the 16th and final aircraft to launch from the USS Hornet. The 92-year-old Odell, Texas, native was captured after the Dolittle-led raid and spent 40 months in Japanese captivity as a prisoner of war. He was liberated by U.S. troops Aug. 20, 1945. He returned to active duty during the Korean War in 1951 and stayed in ranks until 1955. He worked in the hotel business after the war.
Lt. Col. Edward J. Saylor, 92, of Puyallup, Wash., was an engineer-gunner on the 15th aircraft launched during the attack. After the war, he was an Air Force aircraft maintenance officer in Iowa, Washington, England and Labrador. He retired from the military.
Staff Sgt. David J. Thatcher, 91, of Missoula, Mont., was the engineer-gunner on the seventh B-25 to launch from the carrier. After the raid, he served in England and Africa. He left active duty in July 1945. Thatcher had a career with the U.S. Postal Service after his military service.
Sources: www.dolittleraider.com, Dolittle historian C.V. Glines, additional interviews