NEWS

Doolittle Raider from Montana dies

Jenn Rowell
jrowell@greatfallstribune.com

One of the two remaining Doolittle Raiders died Wednesday morning in Missoula.

David Thatcher was 94.

Thatcher was a corporal during the 1942 mission and was an engineer/gunner in the back end of a B-25 bomber and a member of Flight Crew No. 7, according to the Air Force. Thatcher’s bomber was one of 16 sent on the historic mission to bomb Japan. The raid on Tokyo, led by then-Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, was the first U.S. strike on the Japanese islands during World War II.

“He inspired a nation and lived a life devoted to all we hold dear as airmen,” outgoing Air Force chief of staff Gen. Mark Welsh wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday.

Last 2 Raiders giving congressional medal to Ohio museum

In April, Thatcher visited Fairchild Air Force Base for a commemorative toast in honor of the 74th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid.

“The Doolittle Raid showed what we can accomplish when we work together to achieve a common goal,” Thatcher said during the event. “I hope that airmen will continue to honor the raid and remember what was done.”

Thatcher died from complications of a stroke he suffered Sunday, according to a Missoulian report.

There is now just one surviving Doolittle Raider — Lt. Col. Richard “Dick” Cole — of the 80 involved in the mission.

The group will receive the Congressional Gold Medal last year, and donated it to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Ohio.