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And Then There Was One. Doolittle Raid Veteran David Thatcher Dies at 94

Very sad news this morning from Missoula, Montana.  David Thatcher, one of two surviving Veterans of the famous April 1942 Doolittle raid, has passed away at 94.  (URR here.) Thatcher was a 20-year old aerial gunner on the B-25 nicknamed "The Ruptured Duck".  His story figures prominently in the classic "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", written…

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Very sad news this morning from Missoula, Montana.  David Thatcher, one of two surviving Veterans of the famous April 1942 Doolittle raid, has passed away at 94.  (URR here.)

Thatcher was a 20-year old aerial gunner on the B-25 nicknamed "The Ruptured Duck".  His story figures prominently in the classic "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", written in 1943.  I devoured that book at age ten, and was enthralled at the tale of heroism and daring that was the Doolittle raid.  And with Thatcher's cool headed actions in treating and saving his crew mates.  Amazingly, following the harrowing escape from Japanese-held territory, Thatcher flew in raids again in North Africa and Europe.  No "safe space" for his generation.  

Thatcher's death leaves one single surviving Doolittle raider out of the 80 airmen who flew the mission.  Retired Air Force Colonel Richard E. Cole, aged 100, is the last with living memory of bombing Tokyo in those dark days of April, 1942.  Their generation, and the country for which they bled and died to give us, remain treasures beyond compare.  It saddens me to my soul that we are rapidly losing both.

Well done, SSgt Thatcher.  I haven't the words to give your courage justice.  Hand salute.   

 

 

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Response to “And Then There Was One. Doolittle Raid Veteran David Thatcher Dies at 94”

  1. NaCly Dog

    In 2014 a good friend of mine (a former F-105 crew chief during his paid for Thailand vacation tour) and I went to the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene Kansas.
    Richard Cole was one of three speaker on his subsequent unit the 1st Air Commandoes (the US Burma campaign air support and transport air unit) to a special teacher’s night at the Museum. He was lucid, grave, and funny, and had driven from Florida for the talk.
    He flew off the USS Hornet, crashed in China, and finally ended up in Calcutta. There he flew 300 plus missions over the Hump, which defied the odds of survival just there. Then he joined the Air Commando Group and flew in Burma. His unit supported and protected the Chindits.
    He had a deep well of funny stories about the unit, his commander Col. Philip Cochran, and even Lord Louis Mountbatten.
    My friend and I asked good, tough questions on military topics like logistics, maintenance and discipline. The teachers all asked “How did you feel when …
    He is a class act.
    I’d follow him into combat.

    Like

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