More e-mail traffic resulting from "The Final Toast"

Rohawks!  Here is the latest batch of e-mails resulting from Tom Madsen’s posting of “The Final Toast” concerning the Doolittle Raiders.

 

As a preview of the items below, Gretchen (Egge) Gagos mentioned the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, TX (Admiral Nimitz’ boyhood home!). 

http://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/

 

Babs Clay spoke of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans and her endorsement was seconded by John Lieberman.

 

(If you are academically oriented, I’d like to add that the Special Collections Department at the University of Texas at Dallas has a significant collection of documents related to General Doolittle and other of the Doolittle Raiders.  Please see http://www.utdallas.edu/library/specialcollections/hac/doolittle/

 

UTD also has the archives of Air America.  I spent some enjoyable time there a decade ago learning about the “airline” that carried me around Vietnam.  If you ever had the opportunity to fly with Air America, you might be interested in seeing how much material has been declassified. 

 

Oh, and please ignore the Mel Gibson/Robert Downey, Jr. movie about Air America.  As one critic wrote at the time –  "This muddled film about a secret C.I.A. project in Laos in 1969 fails on every possible level: as action film, as buddy film, as scenic travelogue and even, sad to say, as a way to flaunt Mel Gibson's appeal."

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_(film)

 

Off my soapbox, now.)

 

Mike Scott commented on obtaining medals for a parent’s service.  Thanks for bringing the subject up, Mike.  While Mike’s approach clearly worked for him (and will for you, too!), you usually don’t have to involve a member of Congress.  Try this first:

 

Got to http://www.archives.gov/veterans/replace-medals.html

 

Follow the directions under “How Do I Request Military Awards and Decorations?”

 

I have found that the folks at the Air Force Personnel Center who will process these requests are good folks and do a good job with the requests.  If the unlikely case you get a bureaucratic runaround, then the congressional option is always open. 

 

Great to see familiar names pop up in this group of e-mails!  Don’t forget you can use the “comment” option on Gloria’s Rohawk blog.

 

Jerry Ball

RHS ‘65

 

 

On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 10:36 PM, Tom Madsen < > wrote:

Thanks,  Mike Scott, for the suggestion about obtaining medals and records.  We ALL appreciate that.

 

From: John Lieberman < > 
Date: 03/21/2016 9:28 PM (GMT-06:00) 
To: Gloria Campbell Gallagher < > 
Subject: Re: RHS BLOG - FINAL TOAST 

Thanks, Gloria and Jerry.  I think it's great that you've added Tom's post and all of the responses to the blog.

I just tried to reply to Tom's post but, unfortunately, Comcast won't let me send to that many recipients.  So I've copied it below in case you'd like to add it to the blog:


Thanks for sharing this great tribute, Tom.  It certainly helps to remind all of us about why those who served so heroically during WW II are known as America's Greatest Generation.  

Having lived in Louisiana for nearly 39 years, I would like to echo everything Babs has said about the National WW II Museum.  It's one fabulous place and I would highly recommend that, if you get a chance to go, you stretch it into a two-day visit.  There's so much to see and do there that it's really hard to cram all of it into one day.

If you should ever get up to the opposite corner of the state, in the Shreveport/Bossier City area where I am, there's the Barksdale Global Power Museum (formerly the Eighth Air Force Museum) at Barksdale Air Force Base.  It isn't nearly as big as the one in New Orleans but it's got a lot of exhibits inside and a big collection of aircraft on static display outside.  It even has an SR-71 Blackbird, a British Vulcan bomber, and a Russian MIG-21.  You can also go to the website, http://barksdaleglobalpowermuseum.com/, and see some great old videos.  I just finished taking a guided video tour inside the cockpit of the SR-71 trainer.

John Lieberman, '66

 

 

 

On 3/21/2016 4:33 PM, Gloria Campbell Gallagher wrote:

 

Hi guys, I think most of you received the email "Final Toast" shared by Tom Madsen.  Jerry Ball has taken this and posted it on the blog and has entered some of the responses from you.  I believe the blog is open so you can feel free to go to the blog and enter your responses.  If you have sent emails already, then Jerry will be posting them for everyone to see.  Of course, if you replied to all then everyone else has seen your comments anyway!!!

 

We've also added a post of Janet Watkins' father on the cover of Life Magazine.  All of you have shared some wonderful stories.  Let's keep it going.  Also, please feel free to send me or Jerry any stories you would like to see posted on the blog.  Thanks

 

Here is the link:  http://ro-hawks.blogspot.com/

 

Jerry Ball, '65

jcrsdj@gmail.com

 

Love, Gloria

gutsking@aol.com

 

~Peace

 

 

On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 12:16 PM, Mike Scott < > wrote:

 

Yes, they were all part of the greatest generation, heroes were living all around us.  My Dad was in the cadet class of 41-C at Randolph AFB when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Years ago I tried to go through his boxes, suit cases etc. to try and find all his medals, without total success. I went to my US Congressman and found out that as a family member you are entitled to one complete set of medals free of charge per family. I received a set  from the Personnel Records Office. You may find out he was awarded medals you didn't know he had. You will also receive an official record of his/ her  awards. I had them mounted in a shadow box, with his wings, nametag and a 5th Air Force patch. It's been a long time since I did this so I am not positive if they are still free but if you don't have your family medals  a US Congressman is a good place to start.

 

Best Regards,

 

Mike Scott           

  

 

From: Thomas Roberdeau < >
To:

Sent: Mon, Mar 21, 2016 11:44 am
Subject: Re: FINAL TOAST

My father, Neywood Roberdeau, served in the Italian Campaign as a personnel officer. Davy Jones, one of Doolittle's pilots, was our next door neighbor at Eglin AFB in Florida. He was my dad's good friend and my Little League baseball coach. I was very small and unsure if I would make the team, but one night, we drove into the driveway and the headlights caught my new baseball uniform hanging there, placed by Col. Jones. He was a wonderful coach. Of course, at that time, I knew nothing about his accomplishments during the war. Memories of childhood are romantic, yet when other do we get to so purely elevate these men who wiped out tyranny?

 

Thomas Roberdeau

 

   

  

 

On Mar 21, 2016, at 11:33 AM, Babs Clay < > wrote:

Tom -

 

1.  Thanks for sharing this article and bringing so many of us out of our personal reveries to make contact with one another.

 

2.  Food for thought - I recently was privileged to spend a day at the National WW II Museum at New Orleans.  What an experience.  The introductory film, interactive stations and static displays are most wonderful.  There are aircraft suspended from the ceilings and catwalks for peering down into them...even one B-25, which is what my dad flew in the Pacific, although not with Mr. Doolittle's crew. 

 

If any of you reading this are looking for ideas for a short trip, I highly recommend NOLA and a stroll through the Quarter and a day at this wonderful memorial to all of the people who personally lived through those brutal years.  Check the museum at www.nationalww2museum.org 

 

It's been good to hear from you.  Best wishes for the future.

 

Babs Clay, '65

The National WWII Museum | New Orleans www.nationalww2museum.org Sitemap. The National WWII Museum tells the story of the American Experience in the war that changed the world - why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means ...

 

  

 

From: Gretchen Gagos < >
To:

Sent: Mon, Mar 21, 2016 11:22 am
Subject: Re: FW: Fwd: FINAL TOAST

There is a wonderful museum at Fredericksburg, TX.  The National Museum of the Pacific War.  On a very large scale.  Admiral Nimitz lent his support as long as his name wasn't used in name of the museum.  Life size walk through dioramas of scenes from the war.  One is as if you are standing on the deck of the "Hornet" at the beginning of the Doolittle raid.  Another is at the dock of a PT boat preparing to go out on a mission.

 

All is so beautifully done.  Can't recommend it enough.

 

Gretchen Egge (Gagos) 

RHS '68

 

 

On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 9:33 AM, Art Nigro <> wrote:

 

Hi All, this is really cool, sharing all our father’s experiences during the great war. My father got his first Distinguished Flying Cross from MG Doolittle, when on 7 November 1942 my dad flew in the longest massed unescorted Troop-Carrier flight every performed, from England to North Africa. Out of the 39 C-47’s that took off only about 19 were serviceable after the mission. The mission was called “Operation Villain”. It was written up at great length in Rick Atkinson’s book - An Army at Dawn: The war in North Africa 1942-43. It was my dad’s 24th birthday on that Nov. 7th. Just think what we were all doing when we turned 24. Our dad’s lived through incredibly dangerous situations. It is a miracle some of us are around to tell these stories! God Bless, Art RHS ‘65

 

 

 

On Sun, Mar 20, 2016 at 8:48 PM, Lynda Lillywhite <> wrote:

Give me some time and I will respond to Pam and Jerry's requests. 

 

Lynda

 

 

 

From: Jerry Ball < >
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2016 8:24 PM
To:  Subject: Re: FINAL TOAST

 

Pam,

 

I, too, would be interested in seeing Lynda's recollections of the Doolittle Raiders Final Toast.  The event was filmed and is available on YouTube at

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDKPYpkU5Cg

 

Still, it would be great to get Lynda's personal take on being there.

 

Jerry

 

 

 

On Fri, Mar 18, 2016 at 8:10 PM, Pam Viles < > wrote:

 

So, Lynda, I gather that family members were invited to the Raider Reunions?  It must have been sad to see the numbers dissipate and certain cups overturned each year.

 

If you can, please tell us about the Final Toast.  That must have been emotional for everyone involved.

 

My father flew in that theater and was the sole survivor of a plane crash in India.  He would never discuss it, but in our house, if you did not clean your plate, it was the children starving in India whom you were depriving of food.

 

Pam