Richard E. Cole, the Last Doolittle Raider, Dies

From Wikipedia.

A sad thing as a big piece of American history passed away with him.  But we won't forget.

RICHARD EUGENE COLE

(September 7, 1915 - April 9, 2019)

A career military officer in the U.S. Air Force (and Army Air Corps before that).   He was one of the 80 airmen who took part in the famed Doolittle Raid on Japan on April 18, 1942.  (He died just nine days before the 77th anniversary of the raid.)  In it he served as co-pilot to Jimmy Doolittle in the lead airplane.  (They had the least amount of deck from which to take off that day.)

He eventually reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Cole remained in China after the raid until June 1943 and served again in the dangerous China Burma India Theater from October 1943 to June 1944.  He later served as U.S. Operations Advisor to the Venezuelan Air Force from 1959-1962 before retiring in 1966.

In 2016, he became the last living Doolittle Raider.

A Hero Among heroes.