5000 Years Of Wisdom

Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole


Lt. Richard Cole front right, Lt. Col. James Doolittle front left.

Richard E. (Dick) Cole was born September 7th, 1915 to Fred and Mable Cole of Dayton, Ohio. The fifth of six children, Dick graduated from Steele High School and completed two years of study at Ohio University. He studied aviation at Whittenberg College, earning his pilot's license before enlisting in the Army in 1940. In July 1941, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps and assigned to the 34th Bombardment Squadron, 17th Bombardment Group where, in February 1942, he volunteered for a combat mission just two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On April 18, 1942 the 16 B-25 bombers

known as the “Doolittle Raiders” took off from the deck of the USS Hornet and bombed Tokyo in response to Japan's attack.

Following the Tokyo raid, Lt. Cole remained in southeast Asia flying bombing and supply missions over “The Hump” (Himalayan mountains), from 1942 to 1943. It was a dangerous assignment in which over 600 aircraft and crews were lost. In late 1943 he volunteered for the 1^st Air Commando Group and participated in the aerial invasion of Burma from 1943 to 1944.

In 1943, Dick met Martha Harrell at the airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “We got married two weeks later.”

Together they had three boys and two girls. He continued his military service, eventually retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1967.

After retiring, Dick and Martha moved to Alamo, Texas and started their own business growing oranges and citrus fruits. In 2003, Martha died after a lengthy battle with Parkinson's disease. Today, Lt. Col. Dick Cole is an active member of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Association and is one of the last two surviving Raiders. He continues to travel the nation raising money for the General James H. Doolittle Scholarship Fund and representing the Doolittle Raiders at airshows, museums and other events.

Tell me about the Tokyo Raid.

I was flying B-25's with the 17^th Bombardment Group out of Columbia, South Carolina and they needed volunteers for a mission, so I volunteered, our whole group volunteered. The mission called for 16 airplanes, so it took a whole squadron of the 17^th Group. They sent us down to Eglin Field in Florida for some training and a Navy Lieutenant taught us how to take off in less than 500 feet; a loaded B-25 normally needs about 3,000 feet to take off.

So did that tip you off as to the mission?

We thought we were going to the south Pacific, but we didn't know any details. They kept us confined to base and we were told not to talk to anyone about our training. After about a month of training, we flew to Alameda Naval Air Station in California where they loaded our planes (16) onto the USS Hornet and we started sailing west. After a few days sailing, we met up with the USS Enterprise and her task force. That's when they told us we were going to Tokyo. On the morning of the 18^th (April, 1942) we spotted a Japanese patrol boat; one of the ships opened-fire on it and sunk it, but they had already sent a radio warning, so they decided to launch us immediately.

How far out were you?

The Navy had said they would try to take us in to 400 miles, but we were about 650 miles when we were intercepted.

Did you know you wouldn't have enough fuel to reach your final destination?

No, we didn't know if we would, but we hoped we would. They added 10, five-gallon cans of fuel when we had to launch early.

Tell me about the takeoff and flight?

The carrier was doing about 20 to 30 knots into the wind, plus a wind of another 20 to 30 knots, so the take off wasn't a problem. I was in the Number 1 Bomber with Col. Doolittle. We took off and flew the whole mission low to avoid detection. We tried to maintain 200' above sea level, and 168mph. We didn't fly in formation, we didn't have enough fuel for that. We only saw one other plane the whole time, the Number 2. After about four hours we shored in north of Tokyo. I remember seeing people on the beach, but they didn't seem to care. I think they thought we were one of their airplanes. We turned south and headed toward Tokyo.

What was your target and your bomb load?

Our target was northwest Tokyo. We had incendiary bombs and we were to light up Tokyo. After dropping the bombs, we dropped back down on the deck and headed southwest toward China. The plan was to land and refuel at Chuchow (Zhuzhou) and continue to western China, but several hours past Tokyo, the navigator told us we weren't going to have enough fuel. Fortunately, we caught a tailwind and that helped us.

What happened?

We were at about 9,000 feet at night when we ran out of fuel. It was raining; we bailed out, one at a time. I landed in a pine tree and spent the night there. The next morning I climbed down and started walking West.

So you're alone, behind enemy lines; what's going through your mind?

Trying to keep away from the Japanese. It was occupied territory. If you walk East, you're going to walk right into their hands. The only thing to do was walk west and stay the hell away from everything. So I elected to take the high ground and go up and down the hills and mountains rather than look for a road or look for somebody for help. I walked all day and only saw a woodcutter and two students. I didn't see anybody else. It wasn't really scary. As long as you didn't see anybody, what is there to be afraid of? We were in a pretty isolated area. We didn't ever go to the place we were supposed to go to because we drifted over another range of mountains.

So how did you get out?

The next day, I made contact with some Chinese guerillas. They took me to an outpost where Col. Doolittle was. The rest of our crew made it there within a few days. From there, we traveled by foot, horse, bus and seating chair until we arrived at a large river where we were smuggled aboard a river boat and eventually made it to a gathering place at Heng Yang which was a place where the Flying Tigers had a flight of P-40s. From there a C-47 flew us to the capitol of Chungking (Chongqing).

What about the rest of the crews?

All of the planes made it to China, except one that was low on fuel; they landed in Vladivostok, Russia and were held for 13 months. The other crews bailed out or crash-landed. Three died, eight were taken prisoner by the Japanese; three of those were executed. The rest eventually made it to Heng Yang, thanks to the Chinese. We wouldn't have made it without their help. They say the Japanese killed over 250,000 Chinese for helping us escape.

They say that the Doolittle Raids led to the Japanese's decision to attack Midway which was the turning point of the war.

That's what they say.

So you guys changed history.

I don't know about that. I think he changed it (Doolittle); I didn't change it. We were just part of the big picture.

Did you ever have any close calls?

If I did, I didn't know about it. Never took any hits; never even shot a gun.

Did you ever have to bail out again?

Nope.

That was your only jump?

Yep.

Did you like it?

I didn't particularly like it.... but it was necessary at the time.

As a Lieutenant Colonel, what have you learned about leadership?

That's one thing we all learned from Col. Doolittle. He was the individual that really brought out the importance of being a team. Everybody was a team member; he was a team member. He would take any question or help you out in any way. There was no rank separation. Everybody was on equal footing. The only exception was if you didn't do something right, then you were messing up the team-ship, and that's when he would talk to you or discipline you. Fortunately he didn't have to do that due to the way he handled people. We couldn't have done this (the Tokyo raid) alone. The pilots, the crews, the mechanics, the Navy, Lt. Miller teaching us how to take off from a carrier, the Chinese, it took all of us to pull it off. You couldn't have done that by yourself. The team only succeeds when everyone is working together and pulling for the same goal. That's why we succeeded. I tried to take those same principles to my teams.

You have a lot of respect for him.

Hell yeah.

Tell me about your wife.

I met my wife at the airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her name was Martha Harrell. I was about to take a B-25 up to about 30,000 feet to test out a new radar system. She pulled up on a bicycle and said she'd been taking flying lessons and wanted to go up in big plane. I told her she couldn't go up in this one, and she left, or so I thought. So we took off and at about 12,000 feet, she stuck her head in the cockpit! Well, I had to scrub the mission right there, but I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to get her fired. The other pilot was a little older than me and handed her a book of matches and asked for her phone number. Well, she wrote down her phone number on the book of matches, but she gave it back to me! (laughing). It took me about a week to get up the nerve to call her....and we got married two weeks later! That was on October 11,1943.

And was it a good marriage?

I guess so. We were in our 60^th year when she passed away in 2003. She had Parkinson's disease.

What's the secret?

Like I said, it's teamwork. The two of you are in this together. You can't make it work all on your own; it takes both of you. You have to love and respect each other and be able to count on each other. Otherwise you'll never succeed.

So leadership principles work in marriage too.

Absolutely! They work everywhere.

Do you have any regrets?

Regret's a pretty big word. Now if you were to ask me if I'd any mistakes...! (laughing)

Did you make any mistakes?

There were a lot of missed opportunities (still laughing), but there's none that I would do anything drastic about.

Is there anything you would have done differently? Actually I would like to have gone and tried to finish college. I only had two years. There's nothing that would have had a major effect on my being satisfied with life.

What's the biggest lesson you learned in life?

I don't know, maybe I haven't learned it yet! (laughing)

There's a lot of lessons in life.... just like flying. You've got to have a lot of lessons or else you'll end up in the ground. The biggest thing for me is to take things as they come and do the best you can, and don't worry about the rest.

What the toughest thing you've been through in your life?

The loss of Martha and the loss Christina, (daughter) and the loss of Andrew?? (son).

How did you get through that?

Just like I said, you take everything as it comes and you do the best you can. But don't let it effect your outlook on life. Sometimes things happen that you can't do anything about, and you just have to learn to deal with it. In the case of someone's death, they wouldn't want you to be remorseful for the rest of your life. You've got to carry on. It takes you some time though.

Do you ever get over it?

No, you don't get over it.....you learn to live with it.

What matters most in life?

Life itself is a gift, okay? And you should treat it as such. It's your responsibility to appreciate and to take that gift and do the best you can with it. That would include all the facets of living....you could write a book almost, on all the requirements. I just think you accept the work and the fun and the responsibilities of life and enjoy it.

At the time of this interview, only two of the Doolittle Raiders remain, Lt. Col. Dick Cole and Staff Sgt. David Thatcher.

For his bravery and service, Col. Cole was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Medal with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star, the Air Force Commendation Medal, and Chinese Army-Navy-Air Corps Medal, Class A, 1^st Grade, the Presidential Unit Citation and the Congressional Gold Medal which was awarded to all the Doolittle Raiders. “But,” he states,“all they do is collect dust!”

A simple online search produces dozens of articles, interviews and videos of Dick Cole and the Doolittle Raiders. I have included a few links below that are definitely worth viewing.

Thank you for your service Col. Cole, and thank you for the wisdom. You truly are one of “The Greatest Generation.”