"I think, when the moment finally comes, I'll probably have mixed feelings about it," Dick Cole said. "It will be like coming to the last page of a book you don't want to end. The book has been a good one, but you're sad that it's over."
He is 98 years old. He was part of a military unit whose valor is written indelibly on the pages of this nation's history. The Doolittle Raiders flew their "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" mission in April 1942, when, in the wake of Pearl Harbor, spirits in the United States were at a low point. The 80 Raiders, flying 16 bombers under the command of Jimmy Doolittle, showed the world that America would never give up.
"We had planned on waiting until there were only two of us left to open the bottle and have our final toast," Cole said. "But we don't want to wait any longer. As fragile as most of us are, it's time."
So, on Saturday, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, the few Raiders who still are alive will open the bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special cognac -- 1896 was the year of Jimmy Doolittle's birth -- and raise a solemn toast to their crewmates who have died
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