Just a little reminder that the freedoms we enjoy today (football, the interwebs, hot dogs and apple pie) were paid for by many thousands of Americans we will never know. One of them was in Dayton today to have glass of cognac.

On this day, 75 years ago, 80 brave, some might say crazy, Airmen launched into the air in B-25 Mitchells from the deck of USS Hornet in the Western Pacific. They were led by LtCol James 'Jimmy' Doolittle. 

Their mission was to bomb Tokyo, then cross the Sea of Japan and land in China, which was mostly occupied by the Japanese at the time. This was a one-way trip due to fuel constraints, and yet these great Americans still volunteered to go. Although their attack did little to change the course of the war or damage the Japanese military, the Doolittle Raiders' surprise attack on Tokyo provided a much needed boost to morale in the United States following Pearl Harbor. 

In the ensuing years, the Doolittle Raiders would get together annually and take part in a very special tradition.

Doolittle lived up to a preraid promise of a party if the attack succeeded. The tradition would go on. A special feature of every reunion was the crew sharing a cognac in silver goblets with each Raider's name engraved right-side up and upside-down. If a Raider passed away during that year, the goblet would be turned over.

That tradition ended in 2013, when the four remaining Raiders become too old to make the trip to Wright-Patterson AFB.

Today, the last remaining Doolittle Raider was at Wright-Patterson AFB and witnessed a flyover by four B-25 Mitchells and a pair of B-1 Lancers. He drank a glass of cognac to toast his 79 brothers, whose glasses all sit upside down in the case.

Here's to you, LtCol Richard Cole. At 101 years old, you are an American treasure.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/us/75th-anniversary-doolittle-raid/