Thursday, April 16, 2009

Doolittle's Raiders South Carolina Connection

Three of the Doolittle Raiders had SC connections.

HORACE "SALLY" CROUCH-- navigator, bombardier, and gunner, in Plane No. 10. A Citadel graduate from Columbia. No. 10 sustained the most damage of all 16. retired as a Lt. Col. in 1962.

NOLAN HERNDON-- navigator, bombardier and gunner in Plane No. 8. Attended Texas A & M for two years before joining the military in 1940. On the only one of the 16 planes to land in the Soviet Union rather than China where he a and four crew mates were held prisoners for a year.

As the last surviving member of #10, he caused controversy in 2002 when he said they were also on a secret mission to test the Soviets' commitment to the Allied cause. The US military has never confirmed or denied this.

After the war, he raised cattle and ran a wholesale grocery business in SC and married the sister of Horace Crouch.

WILLIAM "BILLY" FARROW-- from Darlington. Pilot of Plane No. 16. One of eight raiders captured by the Japanese in China. He was tortured for 6 months and executed at age 25 with two other Raiders. When news of his death reached the US, his "Rules of Life" written while a student at the University of South Carolina was touted by FDR as an example for the country. I wasn't able to find anything about his rules, however.

Heroes All. --Cooter

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