In October 2018 23 members and friends of the Children of the Doolittle Raiders (CDR) made an historic trip to China. In addition to Beijing and Shanghai they traveled to Zhejiang province, retracing the footsteps of Doolittle Raiders who’d bailed out and crash-landed there after bombing Japan in April 1942. The 10-day journey was a thrilling adventure into the heartland of China. Here’s the itinerary:  2018 CDR Trip Itinerary. CDR President Jeff Thatcher published his thoughts in an article in the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette entitled China, the second time around.  In addition The South China Morning Post ran a major article  chronicling the CDR trip emphasizing the human connections between Raider family members and the families of the Chinese  who helped the Raiders after they landed.

One highlight was the grand opening of a new Memorial Hall to the Doolittle Raiders in Quzhou City. Municipal leaders, the Shanghai-based U.S. vice consul Stephen Birmingham III, Chinese historians and local residents joined the delegation in a public ceremony and museum tour

The group also visited a WWII air raid shelter in Quzhou where many Raiders had hidden during Japanese aerial attacks. CDR’s Mark Fitzhugh was overcome with emotion when he traced his fingers over the stone wall where his late father William Fitzhugh and another member of Doolittle Raider Crew #2, Douglas Radney, had carved their surnames into the rock. Jeff and Mark led the gathering in a evocative toast of Hennessey cognac to honor the last surviving Raider Col. Dick Cole, to those who’ve passed away, and to the Chinese who’d risked everything to help them.

Local media extensively covered the CDR’s visit, including an individual trip made by Tom Macia to Jiangxi province, before he met up with the CDR group. Though Tom didn’t find his father’s precise landing spot, he met a local historian who, via social media, located the 81-year-old daughter of a Chinese man who’d assisted Macia’s father. "My father showed me the locations on a map where he had been in China in April and May of 1942," Macia said, "He was very clear that his life had been saved through the kindness and assistance of Chinese people." See XinHua news article. 

 Back home, The Murray Ledger & Times of Murray, Kentucky interviewed CDR member John Griffin, son of Raider Tom Griffin, to gain his perspective on the trip:  Son of Doolittle Raider reflects on WWII commemorative trip to China.