Doolittle Raider Sergeant David Thatcher passed away in Missoula, Montana, leaving one surviving Doolittle Raider:

http://www.krtv.com/story/32285782/mont ... asses-away

May He Rest In Peace,

MTV

Rest in peace, SGT Thatcher.

Rest in peace Sergeant Thatcher, I'm honored to have had the opportunity for my son and I to meet you.

The Greatest Generation for damn sure.

Yes! As individuals, God gives us sufficient crisis to keep our heads straight. As a generation, as a nation, perhaps not as much. Sun Tzu called it "dangerous ground. " I pray I have left my children and grandchildren prepared for the dangerous ground the sergeant was placed on.

The interviews with David Thatcher in the TV series narrated by Gary Senise, "Missions That Changed The War: the Doolittle Raid", were interesting, as were the interviews of the other then surviving crewmen.

Thatcher was played by Robert Walker in the 1944 movie, "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", which starred Spencer Tracy as Jimmy Doolittle and Van Johnson as Ted Lawson, the author of the book by the same name. I noticed that Walker's portrayal of Thatcher seemed very much "right on" when I heard Thatcher speak during the episodes of the TV series. It's a movie well worth seeing, somewhat more historically accurate than more recent movies about the Raid.

Whenever I see a video or read a book about some of the heroism of the young men who have gone to war, whether it's WWII or any one of the other wars we've been involved in while I've been alive, I'm truly amazed at their courage. The words spoken by Fredric March as Admiral Tarrant near the end of the movie, "The Bridges At Toko Ri" come to mind: "Where do we get such men?"

Cary