Column: Goodbye to last Doolittle Raider, a hero of the Greatest Generation

On April 9th, we said goodbye to a hero of the Greatest Generation. Retired Lt. Col. Richard “Dick” Cole, the last surviving member of the Doolittle Raiders, passed away at the age of 103.

In the aftermath of the devastating sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the purpose of the Doolittle Raid four months later was to show that American air power could reach across the Pacific to threaten the home islands of Japan. The daring target of mainland Japan was symbolic because the Japanese military leaders had assured the nation that the Home Islands were too distant to be vulnerable to a...