A final Doolittle Raiders Goblet ceremony will be held on Apr. 18 and the U.S. Air Force is sending 14 aircraft to the flyover in Florida.
Goblets for Doolittle Raiders (left-right) Master Sgt. David J. Thatcher, Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, Major Thomas Griffin, and Lt. Col. Robert L. Hite stand charged and ready for the Goblet Ceremony on April 16, 2010 in Fairborn, Ohio. the ceremony honors all who participated in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo during W.W. II. The upright goblets represent aircrew who have survived to this day. During the ceremony the name of every person was read and a Doolittle Raider responds to indicate the spirit of those who passed are present. The collection of goblets, each with an aircrew name engraved both right side up and upside down. The set of goblets is now maintained by the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo/Lance Cheung)
The tickets for the event at Mattie Kelly Arts Center are now for sale.
The focus of this ceremony is to turn upside down the goblet of retired Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, who was the last surviving Raider, and had passed away in 2019.
I met Dick Cole in 2017 at the Shack restaurant in FWB. Greatest person I ever met. I salute my hero’s of WWII.