Air Force Museum
Doolittle Raiders'' Goblets
These 80 silver goblets commemorate the 80 men who flew the Doolittle Raid against Japan in April 1942. Over the years, these goblets have taken a highly symbolic place in the history of military aviation.
In depth
History & service
In December 1946 Gen. James "Jimmy" Doolittle and his fellow Raiders gathered to celebrate his birthday, and that event turned into an annual reunion. In 1959 the city of Tucson, Ariz., presented the Doolittle Raiders with this set of silver goblets, each bearing the name of one of the 80 men who flew on the mission. During halftime at a U.S. Air Force Academy football game, Doolittle turned them over to the superintendent of the Academy for safekeeping.
The Air Force Academy displayed these goblets between Raider reunions. In 1973 Richard E. "Dick" Cole, Doolittle's copilot during the 1942 raid, built this portable display case to transport them.
At every reunion, the surviving Raiders meet privately to conduct their solemn "Goblet Ceremony." After toasting the Raiders who died since their last meeting, they turn the deceased men's goblets upside down. Each goblet has the Raider's name engraved twice -- so that it can be read if the goblet is right side up or upside down. When there are only two Raiders left, these two men will drink one final toast to their departed comrades.
In 2005 the surviving Doolittle Raiders decided to make the National Museum of the United States Air Force the permanent home for these historic goblets.
What survives after the mission
A museum object begins a second life when it stops performing its original job. An aircraft that once carried a crew becomes a place for public memory. A jacket, letter, medal, or small piece of equipment can preserve a much more intimate connection. The object is valuable both for what it reveals physically and for the documented story that gives it meaning.
Famous aircraft and individuals can make a complicated history approachable, but they are only part of it. Many people left no celebrated machine behind. Memorials, personal possessions, unit records, and photographs help recover the experiences of those whose service was less visible. They also preserve loss, separation, captivity, recovery, and the consequences of war for families and communities.
Preservation involves choices. Restoring an aircraft may make its design easier to understand, while retaining wear or damage may protect evidence of its use. A reproduction can explain how a machine worked, provided its identity remains clear. Linking objects across collections helps fill the gaps created when surviving material is dispersed. A uniform in one gallery, an aircraft in another, and a memorial elsewhere can illuminate the same history from different directions. The result is more than a record of machines: it is a way to keep the people, decisions, and experiences connected to them in view.
