A Final Toast Screening in Dallas

Doolittle’s Raiders: A Final Toast Screening, Dallas, Texas

Frontiers of Flight Museum
September 7, 2015

Remarks from AVC President Jim Roberts:

Thank you very much Bill for that kind introduction. Like almost everyone in the room I count Bill Chatfield as a friend of mine and in my case I have known him for 35 years since we were in the Reagan administration and neighbors in Great Falls, Virginia.

Thanks also to Laura Lippert, Cheryl Sutterfield-Jones, and the Daughters of World War II and the Frontiers of Flight Museum, for organizing this event and to our sponsors UPS  and the Perot Foundation. And finally, thanks to Tim Grey, producer of “Doolittle’s Raiders: A Final Toast” and our partner in this effort to honor the Raiders, one of the most remarkable units in U.S. Military history.

LTC Dick Cole receives his cake in celebration of his 100th birthday.

It’s an honor for me to be here today to help celebrate the Raider’s legacy and especially to honor Dick Cole, Jimmy Doolittle’s co-pilot on his 100^th birthday.

I will always count it one of the great privileges of my life to have gotten to know Dick Cole, his daughter Cindy, his volunteer teammates Tom, Wes and Brian and many of the Raiders over the last 10 years, when they began speaking at the American Veterans Center’s annual conference. I have been able to work with and get to know many storied veterans units from World War II  – the Band of Brothers, the Dirty Dozen, the Flying Tigers and the Tuskegee Airmen among them – heroes all. But the unit that has resonated strongest with the American public is the Doolittle Raiders.

At least that was the case with the World War II generation and the one that followed. I fear, however, that knowledge of the Raider’s story is fading and  the primary motive behind this document is to bring it to a new generation.

I’m honored to say that the Raiders have entrusted their legacy in part to the American Veterans Center by establishing the Doolittle Raiders the Wings of Valor Award, which is presented each year at our Honors banquet. The Raiders have approved a list of recipients of the award so that it can be presented years after they are gone. This year’s recipient is astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon.

There were around 20 of the Raiders living when we began our association 10 years ago, but now there are just two. But they are hale and hearty pair. To give you just one example, two years ago Dick Cole was the Grand Marshal of the National Memorial Day Parade which the AVC produces in Washington D.C. The night before the parade, the parade chairman Robert Agostinelli hosted an elegant but long (5 hours) dinner at the Four Seasons for parade VIPS. When the dinner finally ended at midnight and we cabbed back to the Mayflower hotel, eager to go to bed and get up early the next morning.  Dick Cole said, “Would anyone like to join me for a drink in the bar before we turn in?” This is the fun-loving, light hearted side of Dick Cole that we love. But on a deeper level we admire and respect him for his courage, his love of country, his selflessness, and his commitment to service. All the qualities that make him one of the greatest living Americans.

So here’s to Col. Dick Cole on his 100^th birthday, and here’s to the Doolittle Raiders.