SEATTLE – Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, one of four surviving Doolittle Raiders who attacked Japan during a daring 1942 mission credited with rallying American morale during World War II, has died. He was 94.
Rod Saylor says his father died of natural causes on Wednesday in Sumner, Washington.
Saylor was a flight engineer-gunner who volunteered to fly the risky mission that sent B-25s from a carrier at sea in April 1942 to attack Tokyo. The raid launched earlier than planned and risked running out of fuel before making it to safe airfields.
He grew up on a ranch in Brusett, Montana, and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1939. He served in the Air Force for 28 years before retiring as a lieutenant colonel.
Saylor was awarded the Medal of Honor.
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