Noah"s Ark

Man Builds Noah’s Ark (exact scale given in Bible).


Working Replica of Noah’s Ark Opened In SCHAGEN, Netherlands .

The massive central door in the side of Noah’s Ark was opened the first crowd of curious townsfolk to behold the wonder. Of course, it’s only a replica of the Biblical Ark , built by Dutch Creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.

The ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That’s two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.

Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.

A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine. Biblical Scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been.

Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and with occasional help from his son Roy. Construction began in May 2005. On the uncovered top – deck not quite ready in time for the opening – will come a petting zoo, with baby lambs and chickens, and goats, and one camel.

Visitors on the first day were stunned. “It’s past comprehension”, said Mary Louise Starosciak, who happened to be bicycling by with her husband while on vacation when they saw the ark looming over the local landscape.

“I knew the story of Noah, but I had no idea the boat would have been so big.” There is enough space near the keel for a 50-seat film theater where kids can watch a video that tells the story of Noah and his ark. Huibers, a Christian man, said he hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in the Netherlands , where church going has fallen dramatically in the past 50 years.

Now that I am old and Gray…give me the time to tell this new generation (and their children too) about all your mighty miracles. Psalm 71:18

Noah"s Ark

7- WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FRONT DOOR FINAL

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis.  Read aloud by Ray Mossholder

Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963), commonly called C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as “Jack”, was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist born in Belfast, Ireland. He held academic positions at both Oxford University (Magdalen College), 1925–1954, and Cambridge University (Magdalene College), 1954–1963. He is best known both for his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.

Lewis and fellow novelist J. R. R. Tolkien were close friends. Both authors served on the English faculty at Oxford University, and both were active in the informal Oxford literary group known as the “Inklings“. According to his memoir Surprised by Joy, Lewis had been baptized in the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion) at birth, but fell away from his faith during his adolescence. Owing to the influence of Tolkien and other friends, at the age of 32 Lewis returned to the Anglican Communion, becoming “a very ordinary layman of the Church of England“.^[1] His faith had a profound effect on his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him wide acclaim.

In 1956, he married the American writer Joy Davidman, 17 years his junior, who died four years later of cancer at the age of 45. Lewis died three years after his wife, from renal failure, one week before his 65th birthday. Media coverage of his death was minimal; he died on 22 November 1963—the same day that U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the same day another famous author, Aldous Huxley, died. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis will be honoured with a memorial in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.

Lewis’s works have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold millions of copies. The books that make up The Chronicles of Narnia have sold the most and have been popularized on stage, TV, radio, and cinema.

7- WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FRONT DOOR FINAL

100 YEARS OLD

100 YEARS OLD

Ch. 6 - THE BEGINNING OF UNCLE ANDREW"S TROUBLES

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis.  Read aloud by Ray Mossholder

Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963), commonly called C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as “Jack”, was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist born in Belfast, Ireland. He held academic positions at both Oxford University (Magdalen College), 1925–1954, and Cambridge University (Magdalene College), 1954–1963. He is best known both for his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.

Lewis and fellow novelist J. R. R. Tolkien were close friends. Both authors served on the English faculty at Oxford University, and both were active in the informal Oxford literary group known as the “Inklings“. According to his memoir Surprised by Joy, Lewis had been baptized in the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion) at birth, but fell away from his faith during his adolescence. Owing to the influence of Tolkien and other friends, at the age of 32 Lewis returned to the Anglican Communion, becoming “a very ordinary layman of the Church of England“.^[1] His faith had a profound effect on his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him wide acclaim.

In 1956, he married the American writer Joy Davidman, 17 years his junior, who died four years later of cancer at the age of 45. Lewis died three years after his wife, from renal failure, one week before his 65th birthday. Media coverage of his death was minimal; he died on 22 November 1963—the same day that U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the same day another famous author, Aldous Huxley, died. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis will be honoured with a memorial in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.

Lewis’s works have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold millions of copies. The books that make up The Chronicles of Narnia have sold the most and have been popularized on stage, TV, radio, and cinema.

Ch. 6 - THE BEGINNING OF UNCLE ANDREW"S TROUBLES

9 - THE SOCIETY

The Thor Conspiracy by Larry Burkett.  Read aloud by Ray Mossholder.

Meet the Author (Edited from Wikipedia) Larry Burkett (March 3, 1939 – July 4, 2003) was an American author and radio personality whose work focused on financial counseling from an evangelical Christian point of view. After completing high school in Winter Garden, Florida, he entered the U.S. Air Force where he served in the Strategic Air Command. Upon completion of his military duties, Burkett and his wife Judy returned to central Florida, where he worked in the space program at Cape Canaveral. He spent the next several years at the Space Center in charge of an experiments test facility that served the Mercury-, Gemini-, and Apollo-manned space programs. While working at the space center, Burkett earned degrees in marketing and finance at Rollins College. Burkett left the Space Center in 1970 to become Vice President of an electronics manufacturing firm. In 1972, he became an evangelical Christian; an event that had a profound effect on his life. In 1973, he left the electronics company to join the staff of a nonprofit ministry, Campus Crusade for Christ, as a financial counselor where he met Austin Pryor, Ron Blue and other notable financial experts. It was during this time that he began an intense study of what the Bible says about handling money, and he started teaching small groups around the country. Burkett left the campus ministry in 1976 to form Christian Financial Concepts (CFC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching the biblical principles of handling money. In September 2000, CFC merged with Crown Ministries, creating a new organization, Crown Financial Ministries. Burkett served as Chairman of the Board of Directors until his death. Burkett published more than 70 books, sales of which now exceed 11 million copies and include several national best-sellers. He did three daily radio programs “Money Matters,” “How to Manage Your Money,” and “MoneyWatch,” along with a series of short features titled “A Money Minute,” which were carried on more than 1,100 radio outlets worldwide. (Crown Financial Ministries has since replaced the three longer-form radio broadcasts with shows having different titles and reworked formats.) In May 1996, Southwest Baptist University conferred on Burkett an honorary doctorate in economics. His last book was Nothing to Fear, in which he gave an update on his experiences with cancer and cancer treatments. Larry died on the fourth of July, 2003. His book “The Illumaniti” was published in 1991.  ”The Thor Conspiracy” was published in 1994.

9 - THE SOCIETY

PRAYER REQUESTS

Send your prayer requests to Ray@holyhugs.com

*************************************************

Greeting brother….hope you are both OK.

Please pray for our 17yr old grand-daughter who was rushed into Stanford’s Lucille Packard hospital with a life threatening illness a week or so ago. Same symtoms as “Anorexia” but NOT anorexia then while she was in hospital they discovered “Echoli” in one of her kidneys. Covert your prayers….her name is Julia. Julia wants to eat by cannot, lot’s of abdominal pain.

Blessings

Rob

Rob W. Gwynne

**********************************************

Dear Beloved Brother in Christ Jesus.

Praise to be God always !

From the depth of my heart We greetings you from Odisha – India. We all are serving God as His evangelist, and pastors since 20 years by faith. We live in Odisha. We all the family members serve God by faith. My Father and mother are Godly man and women, they are the one who taught us to live by faith in Jesus, and they are the one who have been giving water baptism to many young men and women in Odisha, and bringing to Christ for His Holistic kingdom without any financial support, even they did not subtract any children in among us from our Lord’s service, We are 9 brother and sister who were baptized by our parents. Our Parent is a great example for the lord. That is why we don’t want to loose our parent in their early age, My father is 55 years old and my mother is 50 years old. They both are good labourer for the Lord. But now my mother is suffering from liven cancer since 3 months, we don’t have enough fund to take her to cancer

Hospital in India for her better treatment, In India for cancer decease patient is rare to survives, due to the high cost of treatment charges, so for a poor or middle class people or for a pastor family, it is not possible to get treatment in Hospital , they have to depend on God otherwise there on other option. That is why we are very much concern for my mother’s treatment. So kindly pray for us and do your possibilities for treatment.

Thanking you.

Your’s brother in Christ.

Br. Nk Bardhan, Odisha , India.

For Support :

Name : Nabod Kuamr Bardha, Bank Name- ICICI. Account No- 063801500005. IFS CODE- ICIC 0000638. Branch – Paralakhemundi. Gajapati dist, Odisha, India.

Phone : + 91 9439284501

******************************************************

08/22/2013

Dear friends,

Our son Rob has been having trouble talking for a couple of months.  We took

him to urgicare and they said it was an ear infection, gave him antibiotics

and sent him home.  It has continued to get worse.  His doctor has retired

and when he called the doctor who took over the practice he was told his

appointment was on Sept. 16 and she couldn’t see him before then.  There

have been times he couldn’t talk at all.

Today we took him to Barnes Emergency Room.  They did blood work and a CAT

scan and they admitted him.  He has a mass on his vocal chords.  We know

nothing more than that right now.  They did mention it could be cancer.  He

will see an ENT when he is completely admitted. That is all we know right

now. We ask for your prayers at this point.

Rob is okay knowing he will finally get help.

Thank you for your prayer support.  We will keep you updated.

In Him,

Bob & Jan

***************************************************

Hi Lord, it’s me. We are getting older and things are getting bad here. Gas prices are too high, no jobs, and food and heating costs too high. I know some  have taken you out of our schools, government and even Christmas, but Lord I’m asking you to come back and re-bless America . We really need you! There are more of us who want you than those who don’t! Thank You Lord, I Love you.

 

“Life without Christ is like an unsharpened pencil – it has no point.”

***************************************************

Disturb us, Lord – A Prayer from Sir Francis Drake.

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wilder seas

Where storms will show Your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push back the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,

Who is Jesus Christ.

*******************************

FROM PASTOR J. B. BHITRAKOTI IN NEPAL

KANCHANPUR: Six hundred and seventy one families of six districts of Far-Western region have been completely displaced by the recent floods and landslides.

The families are displaced by the floods and landslides triggered by incessant rainfall on June 17and 18.

According to Office of the Nepal Red Cross Society, Regional Coordination Committee, Mahendranagar, 489 families of the six districts have to bear partial losses from the floods and landslides.

The landslides killed five members of the same family in Baitadi district and two persons of Kanchanpur have gone missing in Mahakali river and one is missing in Darchula. Similarly, one person has gone missing in landslide in Baitadi.

Chief of the office of the Committee, Laxman Bhatta, said that the floods in Mahakali river have completely displaced 350 families in Darchula and 113 families are at high-risk of floods.

The floods have directly affected more than 700 families.

The floods have completely displaced 95 families of 12 VDCs, 182 families suffered partial losses and 2,858 families were directly affected in Kailali.

The floods in Mahakali river also completely displaced 30 families and made partial damage on 21 houses in Dadeldhura district. The floods affected 50 families.

Likewise, seven families have been completely displaced by landslides in Bajhang district, said Bhatta. The landslides have affected 48 families in the district.

The landslides have displaced a family and 100 families are at high-risk of landslides in Baitadi.

***************************************************

From Pastor Tahir in the Philippines

My wife Shama is progressed in 29th week of her pregnancy. The position of the baby is cephalic. Plz keep her in your prayers for a safe & normal delivery without a need of surgery and of a healthy child on the complete and perfect timing of God.

******************************************************

Urgent prayer Request from Pastor prem Tamang

Greeting in the name of Jesus Christ,

Thank you for your prayer and support for Living Hope Church. Many people are coming to Christ this day, all Glory to be our God.

On Thursday at 10am in the Morning, whole villagers came and threat us because they are building Hindu temple near our Church. Chair man of village and big team came and  beaten our leaders very badly. They are forcing us to leave that place otherwise they are going burn the Church. They have submitted letter in VDC office against us, so that we may leave the place. They are doing bad things to us. All women are threaten and all believers under oppression of these people. Children are under threat, we are still inside of room for two days, we can not go outside to do something. Need your prayer and support

In Him

Prem Tamang

Living Hope Church

Post Box. 10738

Kathmandu, Nepal

PRAYER REQUESTS

8 - CORNERED

The Thor Conspiracy by Larry Burkett.  Read aloud by Ray Mossholder.

Meet the Author (Edited from Wikipedia) Larry Burkett (March 3, 1939 – July 4, 2003) was an American author and radio personality whose work focused on financial counseling from an evangelical Christian point of view. After completing high school in Winter Garden, Florida, he entered the U.S. Air Force where he served in the Strategic Air Command. Upon completion of his military duties, Burkett and his wife Judy returned to central Florida, where he worked in the space program at Cape Canaveral. He spent the next several years at the Space Center in charge of an experiments test facility that served the Mercury-, Gemini-, and Apollo-manned space programs. While working at the space center, Burkett earned degrees in marketing and finance at Rollins College. Burkett left the Space Center in 1970 to become Vice President of an electronics manufacturing firm. In 1972, he became an evangelical Christian; an event that had a profound effect on his life. In 1973, he left the electronics company to join the staff of a nonprofit ministry, Campus Crusade for Christ, as a financial counselor where he met Austin Pryor, Ron Blue and other notable financial experts. It was during this time that he began an intense study of what the Bible says about handling money, and he started teaching small groups around the country. Burkett left the campus ministry in 1976 to form Christian Financial Concepts (CFC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching the biblical principles of handling money. In September 2000, CFC merged with Crown Ministries, creating a new organization, Crown Financial Ministries. Burkett served as Chairman of the Board of Directors until his death. Burkett published more than 70 books, sales of which now exceed 11 million copies and include several national best-sellers. He did three daily radio programs “Money Matters,” “How to Manage Your Money,” and “MoneyWatch,” along with a series of short features titled “A Money Minute,” which were carried on more than 1,100 radio outlets worldwide. (Crown Financial Ministries has since replaced the three longer-form radio broadcasts with shows having different titles and reworked formats.) In May 1996, Southwest Baptist University conferred on Burkett an honorary doctorate in economics. His last book was Nothing to Fear, in which he gave an update on his experiences with cancer and cancer treatments. Larry died on the fourth of July, 2003. His book “The Illumaniti” was published in 1991.  ”The Thor Conspiracy” was published in 1994.

8 - CORNERED

5 - THE DEPLORABLE WORD

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis.  Read aloud by Ray Mossholder

Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963), commonly called C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as “Jack”, was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist born in Belfast, Ireland. He held academic positions at both Oxford University (Magdalen College), 1925–1954, and Cambridge University (Magdalene College), 1954–1963. He is best known both for his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.

Lewis and fellow novelist J. R. R. Tolkien were close friends. Both authors served on the English faculty at Oxford University, and both were active in the informal Oxford literary group known as the “Inklings“. According to his memoir Surprised by Joy, Lewis had been baptized in the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion) at birth, but fell away from his faith during his adolescence. Owing to the influence of Tolkien and other friends, at the age of 32 Lewis returned to the Anglican Communion, becoming “a very ordinary layman of the Church of England“.^[1] His faith had a profound effect on his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him wide acclaim.

In 1956, he married the American writer Joy Davidman, 17 years his junior, who died four years later of cancer at the age of 45. Lewis died three years after his wife, from renal failure, one week before his 65th birthday. Media coverage of his death was minimal; he died on 22 November 1963—the same day that U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the same day another famous author, Aldous Huxley, died. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis will be honoured with a memorial in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.

Lewis’s works have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold millions of copies. The books that make up The Chronicles of Narnia have sold the most and have been popularized on stage, TV, radio, and cinema.

5 - THE DEPLORABLE WORD

7 - ESCAPE FROM WASHINGTON

The Thor Conspiracy by Larry Burkett.  Read aloud by Ray Mossholder.

Meet the Author (Edited from Wikipedia) Larry Burkett (March 3, 1939 – July 4, 2003) was an American author and radio personality whose work focused on financial counseling from an evangelical Christian point of view. After completing high school in Winter Garden, Florida, he entered the U.S. Air Force where he served in the Strategic Air Command. Upon completion of his military duties, Burkett and his wife Judy returned to central Florida, where he worked in the space program at Cape Canaveral. He spent the next several years at the Space Center in charge of an experiments test facility that served the Mercury-, Gemini-, and Apollo-manned space programs. While working at the space center, Burkett earned degrees in marketing and finance at Rollins College. Burkett left the Space Center in 1970 to become Vice President of an electronics manufacturing firm. In 1972, he became an evangelical Christian; an event that had a profound effect on his life. In 1973, he left the electronics company to join the staff of a nonprofit ministry, Campus Crusade for Christ, as a financial counselor where he met Austin Pryor, Ron Blue and other notable financial experts. It was during this time that he began an intense study of what the Bible says about handling money, and he started teaching small groups around the country. Burkett left the campus ministry in 1976 to form Christian Financial Concepts (CFC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching the biblical principles of handling money. In September 2000, CFC merged with Crown Ministries, creating a new organization, Crown Financial Ministries. Burkett served as Chairman of the Board of Directors until his death. Burkett published more than 70 books, sales of which now exceed 11 million copies and include several national best-sellers. He did three daily radio programs “Money Matters,” “How to Manage Your Money,” and “MoneyWatch,” along with a series of short features titled “A Money Minute,” which were carried on more than 1,100 radio outlets worldwide. (Crown Financial Ministries has since replaced the three longer-form radio broadcasts with shows having different titles and reworked formats.) In May 1996, Southwest Baptist University conferred on Burkett an honorary doctorate in economics. His last book was Nothing to Fear, in which he gave an update on his experiences with cancer and cancer treatments. Larry died on the fourth of July, 2003. His book “The Illumaniti” was published in 1991.  ”The Thor Conspiracy” was published in 1994.

7 - ESCAPE FROM WASHINGTON

WHEN CARS DANCE

WHEN CARS DANCE

DOOLITTLE'S RAIDERS

For those of you who remember (I do)

and those of you too young to remember!!!

The last of the surviving Doolittle Raiders... 

"Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,"

It's the cup of brandy that no one wants to drink.

On Tuesday, in Fort Walton Beach , Florida,

the surviving Doolittle Raiders gathered publicly for the last time.

They once were among the most universally admired and revered men In the United States .  There were 80 of the Raiders in April 1942, When they carried out one of the most Courageous and Heart-stirring military operations in this nation's history.  The mere mention of their unit's name, in those years, would bring tears to the eyes of grateful Americans.

Now only four survive.

After Japan 's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor , with the United States reeling and wounded, something dramatic was needed to turn the war effort around.

Even though there were no friendly airfields close enough to Japan For the United States to launch a retaliation, a daring plan was Devised.  Sixteen B-25s were modified so that they could take off From the deck of an aircraft carrier.  This had never before been Tried -- sending such big, heavy bombers from a carrier.

The 16 five-man crews, under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle, who himself flew the lead plane off the USS Hornet, Knew that they would not be able to return to the carrier.  They Would have to hit Japan and then hope to make it to China for a Safe landing.

But on the day of the raid, the Japanese military caught wind of The plan.  The Raiders were told that they would have to take off From much farther out in the Pacific Ocean than they had counted On.  They were told that because of this they would not have Enough fuel to make it to safety.

And those men went anyway.

They bombed Tokyo , and then flew as far as they could.  Four Planes crash-landed; 11 more crews bailed out, and three of the Raiders died.  Eight more were captured; three were executed. Another died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp.  One crew Made it to Russia.

The Doolittle Raid sent a message from the United States to its Enemies, and to the rest of the world: We will fight.  And, no Matter what it takes, we will win.

Of the 80 Raiders, 62 survived the war.  They were celebrated as National heroes, models of bravery.  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a motion picture based on the raid; "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, was a patriotic and Emotional box-office hit, and the phrase became part of the National lexicon.  In the movie-theater previews for the film, MGM Proclaimed that it was presenting the story "with supreme pride."

Beginning in 1946, the surviving Raiders have held a reunion each April, to commemorate the mission.  The reunion is in a different City each year.  In 1959, the city of Tucson , Arizona , as a Gesture of respect and gratitude, presented the Doolittle Raiders With a set of 80 silver goblets.  Each goblet was engraved with The name of a Raider.

Every year, a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is Transported to the reunion city.  Each time a Raider passes away, His goblet is turned upside down in the case at the next reunion, As his old friends bear solemn witness.

Also in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special Cognac.  The year is not happenstance: 1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle was born.

There has always been a plan: When there are only two surviving Raiders, they would open the bottle, at last drink from it, and Toast their comrades who preceded them in death.

As 2013 began, there were five living Raiders; then, in February, Tom Griffin passed away at age 96.

What a man he was.  After bailing out of his plane over a Mountainous Chinese forest after the Tokyo raid, he became ill With malaria, and almost died.  When he recovered, he was sent to Europe to fly more combat missions.  He was shot down, captured, And spent 22 months in a German prisoner of war camp.

The selflessness of these men, the sheer guts ...  There was a Passage in the Cincinnati Enquirer obituary for Mr.  Griffin that, On the surface, had nothing to do with the war, but that Emblematize's the depth of his sense of duty and devotion:

"When his wife became ill and needed to go into a nursing home, He visited her every day.  He walked from his house to the nursing Home, fed his wife and at the end of the day brought home her clothes.  At night, he washed and ironed her clothes.  Then he walked them up to her room the next morning.  He did that for Three years until her death in 2005."

So now, out of the original 80, only four Raiders remain: Dick Cole (Doolittle's co-pilot on the Tokyo raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor and David Thatcher.  All are in their 90s.  They have Decided that there are too few of them for the public reunions to Continue.

The events in Fort Walton Beach this week will mark the end.  It Has come full circle; Florida 's nearby Eglin Field was where the Raiders trained in secrecy for the Tokyo mission.  The town is Planning to do all it can to honor the men: a six-day celebration of their valor, including luncheons, a dinner and a parade.

Do the men ever wonder if those of us for whom they helped save The country have tended to it in a way that is worthy of their Sacrifice?  They don't talk about that, at least not around other People.  But if you find yourself near Fort Walton Beach this Week, and if you should encounter any of the Raiders, you might Want to offer them a word of thanks.  I can tell you from Firsthand observation that they appreciate hearing that they are Remembered.

The men have decided that after this final public reunion they Will wait until a later date -- some time this year -- to get Together once more, informally and in absolute privacy.  That is When they will open the bottle of brandy.  The years are flowing by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are Only two of them.

They will fill the four remaining upturned goblets. And raise them in a toast to those who are gone.

Their 70th Anniversary Photo...

May God Bless the Doolittle Raiders

And God Bless America

DOOLITTLE"S RAIDERS

The last of the surviving Doolittle Raiders… 

“Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,”

It’s the cup of brandy that no one wants to drink.

On Tuesday, in Fort Walton Beach , Florida,

the surviving Doolittle Raiders gathered publicly for the last time.

They once were among the most universally admired and revered men In the United States .  There were 80 of the Raiders in April 1942, When they carried out one of the most Courageous and Heart-stirring military operations in this nation’s history.  The mere mention of their unit’s name, in those years, would bring tears to the eyes of grateful Americans.

Now only four survive.

After Japan ‘s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor , with the United States reeling and wounded, something dramatic was needed to turn the war effort around.

Even though there were no friendly airfields close enough to Japan For the United States to launch a retaliation, a daring plan was Devised.  Sixteen B-25s were modified so that they could take off From the deck of an aircraft carrier.  This had never before been Tried — sending such big, heavy bombers from a carrier.

The 16 five-man crews, under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle, who himself flew the lead plane off the USS Hornet, Knew that they would not be able to return to the carrier.  They Would have to hit Japan and then hope to make it to China for a Safe landing.

But on the day of the raid, the Japanese military caught wind of The plan.  The Raiders were told that they would have to take off From much farther out in the Pacific Ocean than they had counted On.  They were told that because of this they would not have Enough fuel to make it to safety.

And those men went anyway.

They bombed Tokyo , and then flew as far as they could.  Four Planes crash-landed; 11 more crews bailed out, and three of the Raiders died.  Eight more were captured; three were executed. Another died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp.  One crew Made it to Russia.

The Doolittle Raid sent a message from the United States to its Enemies, and to the rest of the world: We will fight.  And, no Matter what it takes, we will win.

Of the 80 Raiders, 62 survived the war.  They were celebrated as National heroes, models of bravery.  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a motion picture based on the raid; “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,” starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, was a patriotic and Emotional box-office hit, and the phrase became part of the National lexicon.  In the movie-theater previews for the film, MGM Proclaimed that it was presenting the story “with supreme pride.”

Beginning in 1946, the surviving Raiders have held a reunion each April, to commemorate the mission.  The reunion is in a different City each year.  In 1959, the city of Tucson , Arizona , as a Gesture of respect and gratitude, presented the Doolittle Raiders With a set of 80 silver goblets.  Each goblet was engraved with The name of a Raider.

Every year, a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is Transported to the reunion city.  Each time a Raider passes away, His goblet is turned upside down in the case at the next reunion, As his old friends bear solemn witness.

Also in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special Cognac.  The year is not happenstance: 1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle was born.

There has always been a plan: When there are only two surviving Raiders, they would open the bottle, at last drink from it, and Toast their comrades who preceded them in death.

As 2013 began, there were five living Raiders; then, in February, Tom Griffin passed away at age 96.

What a man he was.  After bailing out of his plane over a Mountainous Chinese forest after the Tokyo raid, he became ill With malaria, and almost died.  When he recovered, he was sent to Europe to fly more combat missions.  He was shot down, captured, And spent 22 months in a German prisoner of war camp.

The selflessness of these men, the sheer guts …  There was a Passage in the Cincinnati Enquirer obituary for Mr.  Griffin that, On the surface, had nothing to do with the war, but that Emblematize’s the depth of his sense of duty and devotion:

“When his wife became ill and needed to go into a nursing home, He visited her every day.  He walked from his house to the nursing Home, fed his wife and at the end of the day brought home her clothes.  At night, he washed and ironed her clothes.  Then he walked them up to her room the next morning.  He did that for Three years until her death in 2005.”

So now, out of the original 80, only four Raiders remain: Dick Cole (Doolittle’s co-pilot on the Tokyo raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor and David Thatcher.  All are in their 90s.  They have Decided that there are too few of them for the public reunions to Continue.

The events in Fort Walton Beach this week will mark the end.  It Has come full circle; Florida ‘s nearby Eglin Field was where the Raiders trained in secrecy for the Tokyo mission.  The town is Planning to do all it can to honor the men: a six-day celebration of their valor, including luncheons, a dinner and a parade.

Do the men ever wonder if those of us for whom they helped save The country have tended to it in a way that is worthy of their Sacrifice?  They don’t talk about that, at least not around other People.  But if you find yourself near Fort Walton Beach this Week, and if you should encounter any of the Raiders, you might Want to offer them a word of thanks.  I can tell you from Firsthand observation that they appreciate hearing that they are Remembered.

The men have decided that after this final public reunion they Will wait until a later date — some time this year — to get Together once more, informally and in absolute privacy.  That is When they will open the bottle of brandy.  The years are flowing by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are Only two of them.

They will fill the four remaining upturned goblets. And raise them in a toast to those who are gone.

Their 70th Anniversary Photo…

May God Bless the Doolittle Raiders

And God Bless America…

DOOLITTLE"S RAIDERS