Veterans Day 2013 tribute to heroes

Heroes I’m aware of would disagree they should be so labeled.

The comment I’ve often read is such heroes say they just did what anyone else would have done in the circumstances.

Well, no one else was in that circumstance, but they were. And they stood up to do a difficult job that was set before them.

On this Veterans Day, I salute one group of such heroes – the Doolittle Raiders. This weekend they held their last reunion.

My salute is a video shot during the 2013 Chino airshow. It is views of B-25s during a flyover.

In showing B-25s, I salute the Doolittle Raiders. In saluting them, I’m saluting all the heroes from WWII who served. By doing that I also salute all the heroes we don’t know of and all the others who did their job fighting to give us our freedom.

To all our heroes:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahhMvZdrO90&feature=player_detailpage]

Please remember as you watch the video I’m an accountant with a point-and-shoot camera, not a videographer or even a photographer. Yeah, yeah, I know it shows. (My video was very shaky. I allowed the YouTube software to stabilize the images. That produced the jumpy sides in the video. That’s a minor distraction in return for a huge jump in visual quality.)

Doolittle Raiders

In April 1942, General Jimmy Doolittle led a flight of 16 B-25s from an aircraft carrier to attack Imperial Japan. The raid had minor military value but provided a tremendous morale boost.

Since around 1959, the Raiders have held an annual reunion. They toast their fallen comrades with silver goblets. Their names are written on the goblets twice, once upside down. The goblets of those departed since the previous reunion are turned upside down.

In November 2013, the Raiders decided this would be their last reunion. Three of the four surviving crew members were able to make it to the reunion. The fourth was too ill to travel.

They will meet no more.

More info here.

Gentlemen, I salute you.

Heroes all.

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