Posted on 12/28/2005 10:54:09 PM PST by doug from upland
Edited on 12/29/2005 7:04:06 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
> I second the sentiments of Doug From Upland! Thanks for your support!
Thanks for the welcome!
put me on the list to doug from upland thanks
Lighten up. It was an obvious typo.
"Have nit--Will pick"....;)
We need to hit the NY Times where they live - their advertisers. I don't subscribe to the rag, but I'd love to see who its advertisers are and start complaining to them.
Excellent bit, but you maybe need the post operation criticism of the media too. You know criticizing FDR for the raid being launched prematurely, the planes running out of fuel, the minimal damage done etc.
PS add me to your ping list for these please.
We should all remember that this is the very same paper that employed Walter Duranty, who won an illegitimate Pulitzer for praising Stalin and denying the famine in Ukraine in the 30's. They were commie sympathizers then, and in al Qaeda, they see another enemy they can sympathize with today.
If Hill and the dems were in charge, they'd never print it. It's all about driving republicans from office.
I asked the Admin Moderator to change it. Doh. There were, of course as first stated in the article --- B-25Bs, not B-52s. We would have really surprised the Japanese (as well as the captain of the HORNET).
I read articles from the media about military equipment all the time, trust me, they don't know the difference between B25's and B52's. That is probably what they would have printed anyway.
It has been my error in typing.
True, but you know the difference, the media does not.
I have done considerable political writing but it has not been a paying gig. If you missed it, I managed to cause Kerry just a little grief in 2004 with A CHILD'S EYE VIEW OF JOHN KERRY.
I thought I was being light. Just a bit of fun with what was, as you say, an obvious typo. ;>)
December 23, 2005
Doolittle Raider dies
The State
Lt. Col. Horace “Sally” Crouch of Columbia — a member of World War II’s Doolittle Raiders, who bombed Tokyo and other Japanese cities in retaliation for the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor — died Wednesday. He was 87.
Crouch, a graduate of Columbia High School and The Citadel, was one of 80 men who volunteered for the Tokyo mission, which would become the most famous air raid in American military history.
He died of complications from pneumonia in Providence Hospital at 11:45 a.m.
“A real giant has passed,” Columbia Mayor Bob Coble said.
The Raiders flew 16 heavy Army B-25 bombers from the pitching deck of a Navy aircraft carrier — a first in military history — and bombed Japanese military targets before crashing or bailing out over China. Many considered the raid a suicide mission.
[...]
For his valor, Crouch was awarded the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster.
[...]
Crouch, one of five men in Plane No. 10, would fly more than 2,000 miles that day. No. 10 would face more enemy aircraft, endure some of the heaviest anti-aircraft fire and sustain the most damage of any bomber on the raid.
The crew was credited with shooting down two Japanese Zero fighters and successfully bombing their target before bailing out near Chuchow, where they were rescued by Chinese guerrillas.
Crouch, who served as navigator, bombardier and nose gunner, remained in China for about a year after the raid, flying additional B-25 missions in the Pacific Theater.
[...]
Each year since 1946, the Raiders have gathered to drink to their fallen comrades from silver chalices bearing their names.
The men celebrated their 50th and 60th reunions in Columbia. Crouch, struggling with ill health even then, was able to rally to share the toast in 2002, his last public appearance.
The cups, guarded by cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colo., are inverted in their case as each corresponding Raider dies.
The toast is: “Gentlemen, to our good friends who have gone.”
Master Sgt. Edwin E. Horton, of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Crouch’s last remaining crewmate, on Thursday remembered him as a brave flier, a good man and a talented navigator who relished the reunions and the opportunity they provided to share memories.
“Next year, I will offer the toast to him,” Horton said. “I guess I’ll be the one to turn his cup over.”
Crouch’s death leaves only 16 surviving Raiders.
[...]
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at North Trenholm Baptist Church in Columbia. Services will be held at the church at 3 p.m. Thursday, with interment in Greenlawn Memorial Park.
I had the good fortune to meet Crouch, and another participant in the raid, in 2001 before a Capital City Bombers game on Military Appreciation night when I was working at what is now McEntire Joint National Guard Base. I also attended some of the events of the 60th reunion in Columbia as well.
Posted by Jeff Quinton at December 23, 2005 10:45 AM | TrackBack
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