FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. — Eighty silver goblets stood in a blue velvet-lined case, each engraved with the name of one of the famed Doolittle Raiders. All had been turned upside down, save for one with the name Richard Cole, co-pilot to Jimmy Doolittle. At the time of his death in 2019, the 103-year-old Cole was the last of the Raiders who had carried out the daring bombing mission over Tokyo that marked the United States’ first counter punch during World War II. That mission forced Japan to divert forces to safeguard its own island and bolstered American morale after Pearl Harbor. For decades following the war, the surviving Raiders would gather privately once a year to toast their departed comrades with cognac and turn over the goblet for each man who had died. On Monday, the 80th anniversary of the raid, the final goblet ceremony was held to remember Dick Cole and his fellow Doolittle Raiders. (Source: Air Force Times via Yahoo, 04/19/22)
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