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Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, center, is saluted as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, center, is saluted as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, right, talks with USS Hornet volunteer Roger Felton as they look at an old photograph before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders on the USS Hornet in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Major Thomas Griffin, seated at right, shakes hands with Lt. Col. Chu Chen as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Also pictured at left is John Fu. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, from left, Major Thomas Griffin, Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, and Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, granddaughter of Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, are shown before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) ? Three of Doolittle's Raiders who helped boost American morale during the early days of World War II recalled the dangers of their bold bombing attack on Japan mainland.
Airman Edward Saylor didn't expect to come back alive when his B-25 set off on the 1942 mission.
"Some of the group thought they'd make it," Saylor said Saturday. "But the odds were so bad."
Saylor and the other 79 Doolittle's Raiders were forced to take off in rainy, windy conditions significantly further from Japan than planned, straining their fuel capacity. None of the 16 planes' pilots had ever taken off from an aircraft carrier before.
Saylor and two other raiders, Maj. Thomas Griffin and Staff Sgt. David Thatcher ? all in their 90s now ? recalled their daring mission and its leader, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, at a commemoration Saturday aboard the USS Hornet in Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco.
Their mission has been credited with boosting American spirits at a critical time, less than five months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and with Japan sweeping through the Pacific. The bombing inflicted only scattered damage, but lifted spirits at home while shaking Japan's confidence.
But it did not come without a price.
Three raiders were killed while trying to land in China. Eight were captured by the Japanese, of which three were executed and a fourth died of disease in prison.
The Japanese also killed Chinese villagers suspected of helping many of the airmen escape.
Griffin recalled ditching his plane when it ran out of fuel after the raid and parachuting to the ground in darkness.
"I got out of my airplane by jumping real fast," he said. "It was a long, strange journey to the land down below."
Griffin landed in a tree and clung to it until daybreak.
Saturday's event was held in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the raiders' April 18, 1942 mission. It also included: Doolittle's granddaughter, Jonna Doolittle Hoppes; two seamen aboard the carrier the raiders left from, the USS Hornet CV-8, Lt. Cmdr. Richard Nowatzki and Lt. j.g. Oral Moore; and a Chinese official who as a teenager helped rescue the raiders, Lt. Col. Chu Chen.
The American airmen remembered Doolittle as a great planner who knew his aircraft and fought alongside them.
Hoppes said her grandfather, who was born in Alameda and died in 1993, was very proud of the men on the mission.
"I grew up with 79 uncles in addition to the ones I really had," she said. "He was just very proud of how they turned out."
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I believe Mr. Ass ended up favoring the ribs the most out of all the options, while I went back and forth between the meltingly fatty brisket and the ribs. All the sauces were good, but the meat on its own had a depth of smoky flavor that didn't even need the extra help.
I decided to have a Templeton Rye, as it makes me feel like I know something and reminds me of my Chicagoist days. It was a rainy night and I had been a tad bit stressed that week, so it was great to touch base with Mr. Ass and finally cross Fette Sau off my Philly new restaurant list. Big thanks to Mr. Ass for driving me to and fro even though it was out of his way, and for listening to me rant about this thing or that thing for a good majority of the meal.
I'm a true lover of a good Salad Lyonnais, and this one's egg to frisee ratio was pretty good. I would have actually enjoyed just a smidge more dressing.
The one thing I'll need to do a bit more research on, is just what champagnes we enjoyed, and the order in which we enjoyed them. Over the course of our evening we consumed three bottles. All of which were good, though the first two were particularly delightful. 
I dressed myself up a bit. That bow is from a gift box. Classy. 
This was ringing in the New Year proper midnight style. You'll note that T. has both the champagne of beers and a glass of champagne. Or wait, is Miller High Life the champagne of beers? So perhaps Coors Light could be, like, the Prosecco of beers? 
Now this is a funny photograph because it seems very much like AK is trying to tell me something, and I am far more intent on a photograph. 
Well it was definitely a more boisterous evening than the NYEs I've enjoyed of late. But it was a balance on the whole, or at least in many a way. In other words, I was able to function at work.