MILITARY

Final Goblet ceremony to honor late Col. Richard Cole of the Doolittle Raiders

Special to the Northwest Florida Daily News/USA TODAY NETWORK
Retired Air Force Col. Dick Cole, the last of the famed Doolittle Raiders from World War II, poses in front of a B-25B Mitchell bomber at the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin Air Force Base in 2017. The Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce will host a Final Goblet Ceremony in Cole's memory at 1 p.m. Monday, April 18, at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center at Northwest Florida State College.

FORT WALTON BEACH — A Doolittle Raiders Final Goblet ceremony is scheduled to mark the passing of the last living member of the Doolittle Raiders, Col. Richard E. "Dick" Cole.

Since April 1947, a ceremonial "roll call" has honored the 80 Doolittle Raiders. Cole and all of the members of Doolittle Raiders were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in May 2014 "for outstanding heroism, valor, skill, and service to the United States in conducting their bombings of Tokyo."

Many historians’ credit the raid as the critical factor of the Japanese defeat at the Battle of Midway, often cited as the turning point in the Pacific war.

Air Force honor guard members fold the U.S. flag during the interment of retired Col. Richard E. Cole, the last of the Doolittle Raiders, on Sept. 7, 2021, at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, Texas. Cole was a frequent visitor to Northwest Florida, where the Doolittle Raiders trained at what was then Eglin Field.

The Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce will host the ceremony at 1 p.m. Monday, April 18, at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center at Northwest Florida State College, 100 E College Blvd. in Niceville.

Guests include invited attendees, Raider family members, government officials and military dignitaries. Eighty active-duty airmen from Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field will sit among family members to represent each Doolittle Raider during the ceremony.

Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle (center), commander of the Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force, is surrounded by a group of flyers in this undated photo. Doolittle led the first raid on Tokyo on April 18,1942, when a squadron took off from the USS Hornet in the North Pacific Ocean to bomb military installations.

Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Ted Corcoran will host the historical event.

"Fort Walton/Okaloosa County has had a front-row seat for everything Doolittle Raiders. From their initial training in March 1942 to their reunions in 1957 and 1968 to the training re-enactment Homecoming at Duke Field we scheduled in 2008 to their 71st Final Reunion in 2013. it has been an amazing adoration from our community.

"We have numerous roads, buildings and, of course, the NWF State College Raiders all named in their honor. We were so lucky to have Lt Col Dick Cole return several times after that final reunion, with visits to the bases and Armament Museum," Corcoran said.

"The silver goblets created by the citizens of Tucson, Arizona, in 1959 is arguably one of the most significant traditions in all World War II soldier history," he added. "For our community to have the opportunity to witness the Final Goblet is so bittersweet — indeed the end of a history of legends 80 years after the raid — and one last chance for us all to pass along the story of the Raiders to our grandchildren."

Lt. Col. James Doolittle and his Tokyo Raiders carry the war to Japan on April 18, 1942, at 8:18 a.m.

General admission tickets cost $10 starting March 7. The can be purchased at Mattie Kelly Arts Center Box Office, 850-729-6000, or by visiting www.mattiekellyartscenter.org. 

For more details, visit www.fwbchamber.org/doolittleraiders.

This event is sponsored by the following Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce members: Bank of England Mortgage,  Bit-Wizards, Eglin Federal Credit Union, Emerald Coast Harley-Davidson, Florida Power and Light,  Image Printing and Digital Services, MAG Aerospace, The Manor at Bluewater Bay, Okaloosa Gas, Step One Automotive Group, Talking Parents and Vertex Solutions.