On April 18, 1942, 16 B-25s, each with a crew of five men, took off from the deck of the USS Hornet. Their payload was bombs and their target was Tokyo. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, the Doolittle Raiders were about to fly into the history books.
The mission, which would become famous as “30 seconds over Tokyo,” was the United States response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It was the first attack on the Japanese mainland and served as a great morale boost for America.
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1959 Star files
Lt. Gen. and Mrs. Jimmy Doolittle were welcomed to Tucson for the 17th reunion of Doolittle’s Raiders.
Seventeen years after the successful mission, 23 of the surviving 57 members met in Tucson for their annual reunion. It was during that reunion, that a “last man’s club” was started. The tradition was a gift from the Tucson Sunshine Club.
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The local tourism club was instrumental in bringing the raider’s reunion to Tucson. Under president Bruce Knapp, they arranged with local merchants to give the military group 80 silver goblets. Each goblet was inscribed with the name of one of the crewmembers.
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1959 Star files
Bruce Knapp of the Tucson Sunshine Club inspects the goblets.
The names were engraved on the goblet both right side up and upside down. Those of deceased members would rest upside down, but their name would still be readable. The gift included a case for the goblets and a bottle of brandy.
At the annual meeting, which was to be held on a Saturday, the deceased members were toasted and new goblets were turned over as needed. According to their website, there are 9 surviving members. The tradition also included a bottle of brandy, it was for the last two survivors to share. Looking at the photos from a recent reunion, the brandy seems to be disappearing.
In 1959, when the goblets were presented to the men of Doolittle’s Raiders, the annual meeting was held on Saturday, April 18th, exactly 17 years after the raid.
That tradition, begun here in Tucson, continues to this day. The goblets, which travel each year to the reunion site, were originally housed at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. In 2006, they were moved to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio.
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