Doolittle’s Raiders: And then there were none
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The last of the Doolittle Raiders has died.
Lt. Col. Richard Cole was 103 when he died Monday morning in San Antonio.
With him goes the last first-person account of the 80 Doolittle Raiders who staged a daring raid on Japan during World War II months after the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. The raids were largely ineffective in terms of damage, but the morale boost to a beleaguered nation was incalculable.
There wasn't enough fuel on the B-25s to get back home, and Cole was among those who had to bail out after the raid.
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Asked recently for his best memory of the raid, he said "my parachute opening."
Cole wasn't just any crew member. He was General James Doolittle's co-pilot.
That he was the last member of the Raiders is a bit ironic because he was one of the oldest crew members.
"I figured that Mother Nature and the good man upstairs would pick the time, and I wouldn’t have any control over it,” he said.