It may not have been the largest battle of World War II — but in many ways it was the most daring, and one of the most important.
The Doolittle Raid of April 1942 was America’s first retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor just four months earlier. Brave volunteers who didn’t even have enough gas to return to safety bombed the Japanese mainland and sent a message that America was in the fight for the long haul.
Three airmen were killed during the battle, and four more died after being taken captive by the Japanese after they ditched their planes in China.
Just one Doolittle Raider is still alive — and today is his birthday.
Richard “Dick” Cole was the famed James Doolittle’s co-pilot, and today he turns 101.
Cole is the last of a great crop of heroes, and there are two ways you can honor him today.
- Share this story through email or with your friends on social media. Help us remind the public what the Doolittle Raiders meant to America.
- The American Veterans Center is asking people from throughout the country to sign an online birthday card for Cole. You can add your name and a message by clicking here.
“I was alive in World War II and fought with the Marines all over the Pacific and was badly wounded on Iwo Jima,” said veteran Don Yates. “Those Raiders gave our nation hope and especially to all of us fighting. We remembered what a daring mission they took part in and many of us realized the enemy was not as invincible as we once thought.”
God bless Richard Cole and all of our veterans.
— The Horn editorial team
Thank you, Sir, for your service. Have a wonderful Birthday!!!
I AM SO PROUD TO WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIR. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY!!!
Proud to wish you a Happy Birthday and Thank you for your service
MR COLE It is an Honor to wish you a Happy Birthday. You have served your country with dignity and with Honor. You and the crew of your Flight made it possible for the US to turn the war around in WWII. I would shake your hand if that was possible, but thank you again for being there for our country.
Thank you sir for your service and bravery! Happy Birthday sir!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DICK COLE AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY.
ON MY FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/ken.massie.14
Happy Birthday Dick. Words fail to convey the debt we owe you. Your selfless acts helped lift a nation at a time when it was most needed. God bless you.
My father fought at Midway and was fire chief of that island during the battle of Midway. My distance cousin, General Douglas MacArthur did a fantastic job of taking the fight all the way to Japan. I am thankful for hero’s like Richard “Dick” Cole, These Americans saved the United States and our freedoms. I salute you and all your comrades.
My father Art DeRousse served 1943 to 1945 in the US Army Air Corps as a aerial gunner in a B-24 bomber in the China, India, Burma theatre. He passed away Aug. 4, 2016 at the age of 97. Our entire family supports the VFW and honors vets. Our wish for you is to have a Wonderful Birthday filled with family, love and happiness.
God bless your father, Jeanne. Our nation owes him and the heroes like him a tremendous debt of gratitude.
-Kevin Hart
Thank you for your service & God Bless you ! Happy Birthday & enjoy your day !
God bless your father and his service to this country. My father Albert Abraham was also in the Army Air Corps in the same Burma, India, theatre. He was a P-51 fighter pilot and was shot down in Thailand and was a POW. Sounds like they were the same age. He was born in 1919. Wonder if they knew each other ?
God bless you! I wish you the very best birthday ever. May you know nothing but peace and love. You are deeply respected.
Good to know we still have men of honor and courage among us especially in light of all the B.S. and cowardice in our current crop of leaders O’bozo, Biden, Kerry, Clinton(s), Kane et all
Happy Birthday. God had mercy on you during the war and may he continue to bless you.
Thank you for your service.
Wishing you a Blessed Happy Birthday ! God Bless you for your service to our great nation ! What a proud patriotic generation you represent ! Thank You !
Happy Birthday, Sir! And God Bless you. I will be forever grateful for your service and those of your generation.
A Very Happy Birthday for a Great American Hero May God continue to bless you and your family.
Happy Birthday, Richard. Thank you for serving in WWII. My father joined the Navy immediately after Pearl Harbor. He came home December , 1947, when I was almost two. My dad was always my hero, my teacher about life and everything else. I am so glad there are still WWII warriors alive;my dad left us in 1991 after 71 years of life. He was also very involved in VFW and buried in a portion of a cemetery for VFW members.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY sir a salute to you and all the other true heroes of your squadron.
Happy Birthday Richard !! God Bless and Thank You !!
Happy birthday to Richard! Thank you for your loyalty and service to America. God bless!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR.COLE
Your 101st birthday is as awesome as you are and so is your serice to this country. THANK YOU for protecting this country.
My father served in WWII and two more family members in Germany. so I am well aware of what that entails to each in the famiy – a never ending, never knowing nightmare including those fighting and at times even during peace..
May God always be with you sharing more healty years as a symbol of the greatest good all humans have to potential to be.
Infinite Blessings, Love, and Grace Always,
Bobbi
28 years in USMC,PFC in Korea 1950-51, Chosin Reservior , 6 Battle Stars, to LTCol Viet Nam 1967-68 Tet Offensive. infantry battalion executive officer -battalion commander in KaSahn. I admire what each of you did. I am not sure I could have the courage to have volunteered to go on your mission. Your entire squadron are worthy of our love and admiration.
Thank you for your amazing service, sir. Lost my dad over there. Still miss him. Love you guys!
Happy Birthday one of the honorable heroes of my youth. May God enfold you in his loving arms when it is time for you to join those of your fellow veterans, most if not all of which are in Heaven.
Happy 101st Birthday! You’re awesome!
What goals you have attained in your life first heroic service to your country in the military and then living to a ripe old age. Happy Birthday and many more. It is men like you that made this country and we need men like you more and more today to save the country. Thank you Sir.
GOD BLESS YOUR SOUL AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE SERVICE YOU DID FOR OUR COUNTRY. YOU ARE REALLY A HERO TO US ALL. THANK YOU. RIP.
Happy Birthday Richard. God Bless you for all you have done for our country. You are and will always be our hero!!!
God Bless you and may you live another 100 years to tell your story. Our world is changing big time and we need you to keep it honorable and true. I salute you always. Love you Sir. Happy Birthday and many many more.
Happy Birthday, sir, to one of the best of the last “great generations” of Americans!
My grandfather was lost in Indochina in 1934 (never got to meet him). My father, Maj. Bob Bell, was killed in Vietnam when I was 10. Now I have two sons serving (one is a Navy Chief Petty Officer, another is an Air Force F-16 pilot). I salute you!
Happy Birthday Mr. Cole and thank you for your many years of service to our country and to the world. I believe, if i have my history correct, that it was a young Captain John Birch who set up a landing strip and radio communications in China so that the Doolittle Raiders were able to land and refuel their planes. Birch gave his life in an ambush attack by the Red Chinese Communists who were subverting all of China about 4 days after the war ended. They even chopped his body into little pieces as was testified by the lone survivor of the attack. It was he who the attack who was the target of the attack. The John Birch Society was named after him. The communists have smeared the society ever since day one. Robert Welch called it the first casualty of World War lll. He too was an American hero and if I’m correct, he probably saved your life. Happy Birthday again Mr. Cole. Thank you soo much!!!
HAPPY & BLESSED BIRTHDAY MR COLE.. THANK YOU FOR YOUR OUTSTANDING SERVICE OF LOVE & HONOR FOR OUR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.. PEACE, HEALTH & LOVE BE WITH YOU SIR. +
Not too many heroes like this are produced now. happy birthday!
God bless you on your special birthday! Thank you for your service to our great country. You are a living “hero”.
God saved the “best for Last” and I’m sure He had His reason. You must have been a good, honorable man to serve America so willingly! Thank you for your service and spirit. I had three uncles who also served, but one never made it back home. My wish is that your example would make a difference on our young people and help them become more patriotic and willing to make America Great Again, as all of you and your brothers fought for! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND GOD BLESS!
Happy Birthday Mr. Richard Cole. One of my son’s is a commerical pilot and flys for a living. I’m a Vetran and I have the privliage to be able to wish you a happy birthday. Thanks for what you and your peers did for our country so many years ago. And yes, I watched the movie “Thirty Seconds over Tokyo”. Twice. God Bless America.
Mr. Cole I wish you a very Happy Birthday, and thanks for servicing our country. God Bless YOU.
Dear Sir, veteran of The war!!, thank you for your Service 7 Helpin save many & free many peoples all over the world, HAPPY BIRTHDAY 101 YEAR , THATS GREAT .
I WAS ONLY 10 YEARS OLD WHEN YOU GAVE YOUR SERVICE & LIVED IN uk & sAW YOUR us SERVICE FOR PEOPLE PRIOR TO THE BIG INVASION ON FRANCE.
THANK YOU SIR. HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Thank you sir for your service. May God bless you.
Happy birthday Mr. Cole and many thanks for serving our beautiful country. Your mission on that day displayed our tenacity and love of country and freedom, THANK YOU!!!once again Happy Birthday!!!
Thank you and all who served. I lost a brother in a B-24 in 1944 and another brother served on the Aircraft Carrier Midway. When I was old enough, I served in the Army as a Chaplains Assistant in Germany long after the war. It looks now like we may be heading for another war,
but where will the hero’s like you come from. May God help us.
Thank you for your service to this great country and enjoy your birthday, you’ve earned it.
Thank you so much for being a hero for our nation, and for your service to this grateful country.
Mr. Cole, may God bless you on your 101st birthday. We thank you and appreciate all that you
have done for us. We grieve the loss of all of our brave soldiers, both men and women, who have paid the
ultimate price for our freedom. I pray that God will continue to bless you and your family. Have a happy day
today as you celebrate your special birthday!
THANKS YOU SIR FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY..I HAD 4 UNCLE WHO SERVED IN THE WWII ONE WAS WITH
PATTON 3RD ARMY WENT FROM MOROCCO TO BERLIN WITH PATTON. ONE WAS A TAIL GUNNER IN A B-17 AND FLEW
MISSION OVER GERMANY. ONE WAS WITH GENERAL STILLWELL IN BURMA AND CHINA ON THE LEDO ROAD. ONE WAS
STATION IN ENGLAND . I HAVE A OLDER BROTHER WHO SERVED IN WWII WITH THE ARMY AND WAS IN BASTIONIA
DURING THE HARD WINTER.BEFORE PATTON CAME AND RESCURED THEM. I WAS 17 YEARS OLD AND I JOINED THE NAVY ON MY 17TH BIRTHDAY AND SERVED IN OKINAWA AND JAPAN AT THE END OF WWII AND YOKOSUKA JAPAN IN 1946 HELPING TO DESTROY THE JAPANEESS NAVAL SHIPS AND SUBMERINES. ALL MY UNCLE’S AND MY OLDER BROTHER, MYSELF SERVING 30 YEARS AND ANOTHER BROTHER RETIRED FROM THE NAVY AND ARMY. ONE BROTHER SERVED 5 YEARS IN THE NAVY AND ONE BROTHER SERVED 5 YEARS IN THE AIRFORCE. I AM PROUD
TO SALUTE ALL MILITARY AND RETIRED MILITARY SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN. I AM AN PROUD AMERICAN.
Happy Birthday and thank you to you and your fellow fliers for an extraordinary act of courage and bravery. I believe that America still has people willing to defend her as you did.
Thanks again for what you did for us.
I served in the Marine Corps and would do it again.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A AMERICAN HERO. THANK U FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY, MY LATE HUSBAND DIED IN 1997 DUE TO MEDICAL CONDITIONS HE REC’D IN THE NAVY, HE WAS ON THE FIRST FLOATING DRY DOCK THAT TRAVELED THE ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC. I VISITED MANY OF THOSE ISLANDS A FEW YEARS AGO, WAS ON A WW11 CRUISE W/ MANY GREAT AMERICAN LIKE YOUR SELF. I HOPE U HAVE SHARED YOUR STORIES W/ YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY & THE LIBRary OF CONGRESS.
YOU ARE A SUPER HERO. THANK U AGAIN FOR YOUR SERVICE. WISHING U & YOUR FAMILY GOOD HEALTH.
GOD BLESS, MY HERO !!!!
GOD BLESS YOU SIR FOR YOUR COURAGE AND BRAVERY IN DEFEATING OUR ENEMIES,AND BRINGING PEACE TO A NATION THAT WAS BADLY IN NEED OF IT.YOU WILL BE REMEMBERED THROUGHOUT HISTORY AS ONE OF THE FINEST AVIATOR COMBAT VETERANS THAT EVER WAS.
Happy Birthday!!!! What a great honor it is to acknowledge your life. I know that you will continue to be blessed, now and beyond. Thank you. Nancy S.
Thank you for your service, Mr. Richard Cole. Happy Birthday on your special day. May God bless and keep you and your family. We grieve for the ones that paid such a heavy price for all of our freedoms and thank them from the bottom of our hearts.
Your Country loves men like you, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE YOU ARE MY HERO.
I was 8 yrs old during WW 11. Thank you for your service.
Thank you Sir. You fellows gave us something to be proud of with the raid you all made. Happy Birthday and many more.
God Bless you for volunteering your life for the cause of freedom and justice in the world. You WW11 persons were so very young and dedicated, giving us in the west and free world the right to make our own decisions, to be able to reach out and enact a law to protect ourselves without retribution. I salute you and will wear a poppy for you at the Battle of Britain parade on Sunday. snm
I salute you.
I missed your last visit to the USO, Ft. Walton.
Next time you pass through, I’ll have to shake your hand!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday, Mr. Cole.
We will never forget your service. Thank you.