Honoring Fallen Raiders

Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley

Remarks at the Doolittle Raiders Memorial, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, April 18, 2010

Good afternoon. Sixty-eight years ago today, less than five months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, 16 U.S. Army Air Corps aircrews departed the carrier USS Hornet in their B-25 aircraft--a group that will forever be known to us as the Doolittle Raiders.

Their mission, pushing the very outer limits of what was thought possible at the time, was to strike the empire of Japan for the first time; a mission begun by 80 courageous Airmen, of which only 73 would eventually return home.

Of the seven who did not, three didn't survive bailout of their fuel-starved aircraft, and four died after being captured by the Japanese--three of these were executed and one died of illness as a Prisoner of War. Four other Raiders were also captured by the Japanese, but did return home after 40 months as POWs.

William Dieter, Leland Faktor, Bill Farrow, Donald Fitzmaurice, Dean Hallmark, Robert Meder and Harold Spatz would never again see their loved ones. We cannot know what their lives might have been; the children they might have watched grow up, marry, perhaps have children. We do not know if they would have stayed in what was to become our Air Force, or perhaps have gone into business, or farming, or perhaps public service. Their lives ended too soon, but they ended with great meaning.

In a time of challenge, the Raiders stepped forward. In a time of darkness, they gave America hope. And against great odds, they prevailed. These 80 warriors, volunteers to a man, answered their nation's call, and committed themselves to a mission that many had believed impossible. And in so doing, they changed the course of World War II and inspired a nation.

History records that over 2,400 years ago, the Greek warrior Pericles advised his people to honor their fallen, by dedicating themselves to their cause. Speaking to grieving families of Athenian heroes who died defending democracy, he said, "...they could fall in no nobler cause."

Abraham Lincoln then echoed this sentiment again at Gettysburg, when he said, "...from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion."

As we gather this morning we honor not only those who perished in 1942, but their brothers-in-arms who have since passed, down to the current day. Theirs is a legacy forged in adversity, but tempered by strong will, and the determination to complete their mission, whatever the consequences may bring.

So how does a nation express its thanks to such heroes? We build memorials, such as this. We build museums. We mark the days that will forever remember their legacy to us. We do it through the lives that we lead, the paths we choose in life - of industry, of work, of service to others. And we do it in the promises we make to each other, which generation upon generation of Americans have done since, by stepping forward to wear the nation's cloth, to swear to protect the Constitution of the United States.

Let us remember their tremendous sacrifice, and rededicate ourselves as we leave here today, to strengthen and protect the democracy they so boldly defended, and the nation they so loved. Thank you.

GeneralImagesVideo   View All RSS