Dear Raider Family and Friends,

Over the last several months, the Children of the Doolittle Raiders have been busy. Below are some of the highlights.

October 2018 China Tour

 In October 2018, a CDR group consisting of approximately 24 family members and friends toured portions of China for 12 days including sites that some of the Doolittle Raiders visited after bailing out or crash landing in China after the Raid. Some of the tour participants, including Mark Fitzhugh, son of Raider William Fitzhugh; Susann Ozuk, daughter of Raider Charles Ozuk; and Tom Macia, son of Raider Herb Macia, experienced profound moments in seeing sites where their fathers had been, meeting descendants of Chinese who had aided their fathers, or learning more about their fathers’ experiences.

New Doolittle Raider Memorial Hall in Quzhou

 During the China tour, we also participated in the grand opening of a new Doolittle Raider Memorial Hall in Quzhou, a Chinese city where many of our fathers stayed in an air raid shelter, carved into the side of a hill, avoiding daily Japanese bombings while waiting to be transported inland to safety at Chungking, the Chinese Nationalist wartime capital.

 The Doolittle Raider Memorial Hall, a fully renovated historic building in downtown Quzhou, was established by the Quzhou municipal government and is filled with Raider artifacts provided by Raider family members and others. The Quzhou municipal government agreed to create the Memorial Hall after I wrote letters to Quzhou municipal officials following my first visit to China in September 2015 with a request that the Hall be created to honor the Raiders. Follow-up efforts and communication with Quzhou municipal officials were also provided by CDR board member Melinda Liu and Chinese Doolittle Raid historian Zheng Weiyong.

 The Memorial Hall is located near the Quzhou Municipal Germ Warfare Museum, which is dedicated to Chinese victims slaughtered by the Japanese Army in a three-month campaign in retaliation for the assistance provided by the Chinese to the Doolittle Raiders.  The Japanese campaign of retaliation resulted in an estimated 250,000 Chinese deaths.

CDR Domestic Scholarship Program

 In April 2019, the CDR selected Ella Fitzhugh, granddaughter of Raider William Fitzhugh, and Travis Bullard, great-grandson of Raider Joseph Manske as recipients of two $2,500 scholarships. This is the second year of our domestic scholarship program, in which two direct descendants of Raiders are selected to receive one-time scholarships that are applied to tuition and books at the college of their choice. In 2018, Kai Staley, the grandson of Raider Jack Sims, and Gabrielle Daigle, the great-granddaughter of Raider Robert Bourgeois, were the recipients of the first two CDR scholarships. (To be considered for a scholarship, the parent of an applicant must be a CDR member in good standing).

 Below is an e-mail message that 2019 scholarship recipient Travis Bullard sent after being notified of his selection.

 “I wanted to thank you and the Children of the Doolittle Raiders for rewarding me with this scholarship. I often think about the heroic actions my great-grandfather took, knowing full well he may never return, and the incredible struggle he went through trying to get back home. It makes me ever more thankful for the opportunities and privilege I have today. I strive to live my life with even a sliver of the heroism and courage he did, and regret that I will never be half the man he was. I know that Joseph Manske, who I was named after, would be ecstatic to know I have the opportunity and ability to attend such elite schools such as UGA, LSU, Clemson, and others (it really is an embarrassment of riches), as he felt that education was of the utmost importance, despite having never gone to college himself. He helped pay for my father and his brothers to get through college, paying in full for what the Pell Grants they received did not cover, and I would like to thank you for aiding him in his goal to educate his family.”  

 With thanks,

 Joseph Bullard

 Great-Grandson of Col. Joseph W. Manske, Crew #5

CDR China Scholarship Program

 Each year, students at the Quzhou #2 Middle School write and submit essays in English about the impact of the Doolittle Raid on Quzhou and China. Our scholarship committee then reads the essays and selects the winners who are awarded cash prizes and certificates. The China scholarship program was started in 2016 after I visited the Quzhou #2 Middle School in September 2015.

 In October 2018 during our China tour, the CDR recognized winning students at the Quzhou #2 Middle School for the essays that they submitted. Since the program began, the quality of the essays submitted has improved each year. For 2018, all the submitted essays were judged to be winners and we were thrilled to present cash prizes and certificates in person to the winners when we visited the school.

We would like to express our grateful appreciation to Moet Hennessy for providing annual funding for both the CDR Domestic and China scholarship programs. Thanks also to Susann Ozuk for her generous donation to the China scholarship program, which will be used to enhance its reach and efficacy.

2019 Fort Walton Beach Gathering

 From April 17-20, the CDR held our annual gathering in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, which included an opening night reception, a toast to the Raiders and an auction at the Armament Museum; a bus tour of various Raider-related sites at Eglin Field and other locations; a poolside reception and dinner at the host hotel, and an educational session at the hotel featuring presentations from our October 2018 China tour by Melinda Liu, Susann Ozuk, Tom Macia and John Griffin.

 We would like to express our thanks to Moet Hennessy for their support of the opening night reception and toast and their continued support of the CDR. We would also like to express our grateful appreciation to Lynn Dominique, Wes Fields and Shelly Kaiser, our boots on the ground in Fort Walton Beach, for their help and assistance in coordinating our events and the bus tour.

 Our gathering was bittersweet as we mourned the death of final Doolittle Raider, 103-year-old Lt. Col. Richard E. Dick Cole, who passed away on April 9 and whose memorial service was held in San Antonio on April 18, the 77^th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid. Dick was scheduled to lead our opening toast. Instead, Jim Bower, son of Raider William Bower, led the toast honoring Dick Cole and the other Raiders. We wish to express our sincere condolences to Dick’s children, Cindy Cole Chal and Richard Cole, and their families.

CDR Website and Facebook Page

 We encourage everyone to visit the CDR website and Facebook page. Both are updated on a regular basis. Of special interest on the website is a section devoted to our China efforts and initiatives. We would like to thank and recognize our webmasters, Tom and Sheridan Liu, for their efforts in updating and keeping the CDR website current.

To visit our website, click www.childrenofthedoolittleraiders.com

 To visit our Facebook page, click https://www.facebook.com/doolittleraiderchildren/. 

 We encourage everyone to visit and check back at both sites on a regular basis.

CDR Is Now a Registered Hereditary Society

 Thanks to the efforts of CDR Vice President Connie Townsend, the CDR is now a registered hereditary society. To date, 60 of our members have registered. Children of Raiders can register by providing a copy of their birth certificate to Connie. (If you are a grandchild or great-grandchild of a Raider, Connie also needs your parents’ and grandparents’ birth certificates to establish the direct Raider connection.)

 Once Connie receives the birth certificate(s), she will send a signed certificate that recognizes that individual as a registered member. Please either mail or e-mail a copy of your birth certificate to Connie at 6830 Hwy. 56, Chauvin, LA 70344 or cocodrie@bellsouth.net. If you have questions or need additional information on this initiative, please e-mail Connie or call her at 985-209-6672.

2020 CDR Meeting

On April 17-19, 2020, the CDR will hold our Annual Meeting at The Army and Navy Club in Washington D.C. We have a limited number of rooms that are available on a first-come, first-served basis. To make your reservation, call 202-628-8400 and ask for Gwen in reservations. When making your reservation, you will need to provide her with the following information: Mrs. Constance Bourgeois Townsend, Club Number 128181. More details will follow as they are finalized.

 CDR Membership and Dues

 If you are not already a member of the Children of the Doolittle Raiders, Inc., we encourage all Raider family members and friends to join the CDR. Membership dues are $50 annually, but we request that members pay in two-year increments or $100. Checks should be made payable to Children of the Doolittle Raiders, Inc. and mailed to Connie Townsend at 6830 Hwy. 56, Chauvin, LA 70344. Dues are tax-deductible, but we do not issue receipts. Your cancelled check serves as documentation.

Thank you for your support of the Doolittle Raiders and the CDR.

If you have questions or need additional information, let me know.