[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 111 (Monday, July 11, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4941-S4942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REMEMBERING SERGEANT DAVID THATCHER

  Mr. DAINES. Madam President, I want to recognize SGT David Thatcher, 
a member of the Greatest Generation and a true American hero, who sadly 
passed away on June 22, 2016, in Missoula, MT. Born on July 31, 1921, 
in Bridger, MT to homesteaders, Joseph and Dorothea Thatcher, David 
grew up in Montana during the Great Depression.
  David enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and in 1942 volunteered to 
go on a secret mission that ultimately became the Doolittle Raid on 
Tokyo. He was a crew member on plane No. 7, the Ruptured Duck, which 
crash landed in water off China after their bombing mission. His heroic 
efforts saved the lives of his badly injured crew members, and with the 
help of local Chinese guerillas, he helped his crew evade Japanese 
troops and make their way to safety.
  Sergeant Thatcher's actions and those of all of the Doolittle's 
Raiders were nothing but heroic, yet Sergeant Thatcher was a humble man 
and did not feel he did anything great. He just felt he was doing his 
job. Doing his job, however, helped to win a war and maintain our 
freedom as a nation. Sergeant

[[Page S4942]]

Thatcher will be missed by his family, Montanans, and an entire 
grateful nation.

                          ____________________