An American Hero Is Honored
The Doolite Raiders name is synonymous with American heroism.
This band of brave World War II pilots flew missions few would even
dare attempt. This weekend we lost another hero.Retired Air Force
Col. Travis Hoover (standing second from the left), a pilot who
flew one of the bombers in the famous 1942 raid on Japan led by
Jimmy Doolittle, passed away Saturday night. He was 86.
Doolittle, then a lieutenant colonel, organized and trained a
volunteer force for the raid on Japan in April 1942, just four
months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United
States into World War II.Hoover, born in New Mexico, had entered
military service with the National Guard in California in 1938,
later becoming a cadet in what was then the Army