Second-to-last surviving Doolittle Raider dies at 94

David Johnathan Thatcher |  Photo:  Robert Seale

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Retired Staff Sgt. David Jonathan Thatcher, one of two last surviving members of WWII's Doolittle Raiders, passed away in Missoula, Montana from complications of a stroke on June 22, 2016. He was 94.

On April 18, 1942, Thatcher was involved in the Doolittle Raid - United States' first retaliation to Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor four months earlier. The raid involved 16 B-25 Mitchell Medium bombers, 2  aircraft carriers, 4 cruisers, 8 destroyers...and 80 brave souls - all of which had volunteered and trained for the "extremely hazardous" secret mission under the command of the famous Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle.

Thatcher's aircraft, nicknamed the "Ruptured Duck", was seventh to launch (is that ok to say because I say 'take off' in the next sentence) and was piloted by Ted W. Lawson. The goal for all 16 bombers was to take off from the USS Hornet and bomb military targets in Japan. It was not possible to land back on the Hornet, so the plan was to continue west for a landing in China.

The mission ended up launching 170 miles further out than anticipated, and all of the aircraft ran out of fuel before reaching the areas in China that were not occupied by the Japanese. As was the fate of two other bombers, Thatcher and his crew were forced to ditch their plane at sea. Lawson, the Ruptured Duck's pilot and his co-pilot were both tossed from the B-25. Miraculously, all 5 crew members survived with serious injuries, with the exception of Thatcher. After regaining consciousness, he was able to walk and helped the others survive.

Doolittle would later tell Thatcher's parents "… all the plane's crew were saved from either capture or death as a result of his initiative and courage in assuming responsibility and in tending the wounded himself, day and night."

Thatcher was one of three awarded the Silver Star for acts of valor during the Doolittle Raid.

"Beyond the limits of human exertion, beyond the call of friendship, beyond the call of duty, he – a corporal – brought his four wounded officers to safety," Merian C. Cooper, a logistics officer for the Doolittle Raid, wrote of Thatcher after debriefing the Raiders who survived.

In a 2015 interview with the Associated Press, Thatcher said: "We figured it was just another bombing mission," only later did he realize that  "it was an important event in World War II."

"The Doolittle Raid was a pivotal point in the war and 'very necessary,' said Thatcher's son-in-law, Jeff Miller in an interview with local paper, Missoulian.  "But nobody talks about the rest of the story. These guys weren't put on the sidelines. Too often, the story stops at the Doolittle Raiders."

Thatcher went on to train in Tampa, Florida on B-26 bombers, and was "one of 12,000 troops to ship out of New York Harbor on the Queen Mary, which zigzagged its way across the North Atlantic to avoid detection by German U-boats. In the next several months, Thatcher flew 26 bombing missions over North Africa, the Mediterranean, and Italy. He participated in the first bombing of Rome in July 1943."

After retiring from the military, Thatcher worked for the USPS as a Postal Clerk. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, three of their five children and seven grandchildren.

The remaining Doolittle Raider is 101-year-old retired Lt. Col. Richard "Dick" Cole - Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot.

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