Doolittle Raiders coming home

FORT WALTON BEACH — The goal is to raise tens of thousands of dollars, maybe even more than $100,000, for Fisher House of the Emerald Coast Inc.

Another important purpose of Doolittle Raiders Homecoming 1942-2008, to be held May 28-31, is to give the public a taste of history from the men who lived it.

The Raiders trained at then-Eglin Field in March 1942. A couple of weeks later, they launched their B-25s from the aircraft carrier Hornet and bombed Japan. It was the first American strike against the Axis power’s homeland in World War II.

Seven of the 11 living Raiders, including Ed Horton Jr. of Fort Walton Beach, plan to attend the three-day celebration. Book signings, lectures and a gala dinner are scheduled.

The homecoming’s premiere event will be a limited attendance re-enactment of the short takeoffs the Raiders practiced before they embarked on the Hornet. Four B-25s will simulate — within confines of today’s civilian flight safety rules — the practice runs.

The idea of a Doolittle homecoming and re-enactment belongs to Wes Fields, who handles security at the Emerald Coast Conference Center and for the Raiders when they’re touring.

“I envisioned this in my mind for five years, at least five years,” he said.
When the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce agreed to host the homecoming, Fields said he nearly fell over.

To the former Hurlburt Field master sergeant, the Raiders are American history icons.
Chamber president and CEO Ted Corcoran agreed.

He’s enthused about the homecoming, but regrets the re-enactment can’t be open to the public.
Corcoran said Eglin Air Force Base’s leadership did a remarkable job to get clearance to use Duke Field for the May 31 re-enactment. However, opening Duke’s gate to everyone would have been difficult for many reasons, including security.

“The re-enactment is limited to 1,000 people,” he said. “It’s just a logistics issue … It isn’t an air show.”

To see the re-enactment, people must buy tickets at $100 per person to the post-launch dinner at the Conference Center the same day as the re-enactment.

The keynote speaker will be James Bradley, author of “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Flyboys: A True Story Courage.”

Also present will be Glenn McDuffie, who has been accepted as the “Kissing Sailor.” McDuffie is the sailor in the famous Times Square photograph kissing a nurse after Japan’s surrender to end World War II.

Tickets for the dinner are available, pending supply, at Beach Community Bank branches or at the chamber.

For updated information about the Doolittle homecoming, go to www.fwbchamber.com.      

Daily News Staff Writer Mladen Rudman can be reached at 863-1111, Ext. 1443.