Rural Montana highway to bear name of Doolittle Raider

An 18-mile highway south of Absarokee in south-central Montana will bear the name of World War II hero David Thatcher.

Thatcher, who earned the Silver Star for his heroics with the Doolittle Raiders after their attack on Japanese targets in 1942, grew up in the area before marrying after the war and moving to Missoula. There he raised a family and retired after a long career with the U.S. Postal Service.

He died in Missoula in 2016 at age 94, and last month the Veterans Administration outpatient clinic on Palmer Street was named in his honor.

On Wednesday at the state Capitol in Helena, Gov. Steve Bullock signed into law Senate Bill 175 naming State Highway 419 through Fishtail to Nye the David Thatcher Memorial Highway.

“Sergeant Thatcher is a heroic reflection of his generation and will forever serve as a constant reminder of all those who have answered the call to service, in defense of the freedom and liberty we so love,” Bullock said.

Thatcher’s roots ran deep in the area. He was born on the family homestead near Bridger in 1921, and moved to a dryland farm outside of Rapelje northwest of Columbus when he was 2.

He spent his late childhood and teenage years on another family farm and then a dairy operation south of Columbus near Absarokee. Thatcher graduated from Absarokee High School in 1939 and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in December 1940.

“He was very proud to be from that part of the state and maintained his ties there throughout his life with yearly visits to family members still living in the area,” son Jeff Thatcher said in an email Tuesday. “Before his death, he also donated some of his Doolittle Raider items to the Museum of the Beartooths in Columbus, which are part of a display at the museum.”

The display includes Thatcher’s bomber jacket, said Penny Redli, the museum’s executive director, who was on hand at the Capitol for the signing ceremony. Thatcher’s widow Dawn, his daughter Sandy and son-in-law Jeff Miller, and representatives from Stillwater County also attended.

SB175 was introduced by Sen. David Howard, a Republican from Park City in eastern Stillwater County. It passed the Senate 48-2 on Feb. 12 and the House by an 89-9 vote 10 days later.

It directs the Montana Department of Transportation to install signs on Highway 419 from its intersection with State Highway 78 to its intersection with the Stillwater River Road at Nye.

Redli said the Thatcher farm and dairy operation were three or four miles south of the turnoff to Highway 419 along Highway 78, a thoroughfare between Columbus and Red Lodge. Since 1995 it has borne the name of another World War II hero, Donald J. Ruhl.

Ruhl, who was born in Columbus and graduated from Joliet High School, received the Medal of Honor posthumously after he fell on a grenade to protect the lives of fellow Marines during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. Eastbound and westbound travelers on Interstate 90 near Columbus are directed to the Donald J. Ruhl Medal of Honor Memorial Highway.