NICEVILLE — Northwest Florida State College ushered in another historic moment Wednesday as it marked its 50th anniversary with the men who inspired not only a mascot, but a new exhibit at the school.
The Doolittle Raider Exhibit opened to the public with the help of three of the four living members of the famous World War II group.
“The story of the Doolittle Raiders will now be told to current and future generations,” NWF State President Ty Handy said. “ … You can’t have a better way to kick off our celebration.”
View photos of the exhibit and the Raiders »
Just prior to the public unveiling, Lt. Cols. Richard Cole and Edward Saylor and Staff Sgt. David Thatcher, were given a tour of the exhibit assembled to honor them and the 77 other men who volunteered for the dangerous mission under the command of Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittlea little more than four monthsafter Pearl Harbor.
“It was very, very nice,” Cole said later. “I don’t know where you were lucky enough to get all that.”
Cole and Thatcher said they were most impressed with a shell casing the college had acquired. It belonged to a sailor who had saved one from when the Raiders attacked a Japanese patrol boat that had spotted their convoy in the Pacific and forced them to take off sooner than planned.
Mia Checkley, who gave the trio a tour of the exhibit, said the men reacted to a few of the pieces, including some navigational equipment in one of the displays.
“(Cole) said, ‘Oh, I had a compass just like that,’ ” she said.
After wrapping up the quick tour, the three Raiders headed to The Arena for the official kickoff ceremony with the scoreboard lighted in the date of the raid: April 18, 1942.
Several NWF State officials spoke about the college’s 50th anniversary before Cole, who was Doolittle’s co-pilot, presented five $2,500 scholarships to local students.
“The Raiders are happy to know that the most important part of whatever legacy we have is what we are doing today,” Cole said just before calling up the first student.
The last time a local student was given a scholarship by a Raider was in 1968 when Doolittle himself did it.
“(I got) this grand feeling of honor that someone of that stature would come to me … and basically out of the kindness of his heart give me $2,500,” said Grayton Savickas, a Choctawhatchee High School senior who received one of the scholarships.
After the ceremony concluded, Savickas toured the exhibit with his mother, Melisa Florio, to learn more about the men who were helping to fund his career into electrical engineering.
“It sums up patriotic, it really does,” Florio said of the exhibit. “Sometimes we forget how honored we are to live in this country.”
Florio and Savickas weren’t the only ones impressed with the display.
George King, who met one of the Raiders when he was 12 years old, said he’s been anxiously awaiting the event since he first heard about it.
“I think it’s terrific,” he said. “And I think that the fact they’ve named themselves the Raiders all along is marvelous.”
Others at the unveiling had an even more personal connection to the displays.
Mark Fitzhugh, whose father William “Foggy” Fitzhugh, was the co-pilot on the second plane to take off from the Hornet, had donated metal cups to the exhibit that his father carried throughout the entire mission.
Almost as soon as he arrived, the rector at St. Simon’s on the Sound Episcopal Church wanted to find the cups. He found them in a tall glass case in the center of the room beside a mannequin representing Doolittle.
“He would have been real pleased,” Fitzhugh said of his father. “That’s perfect spot for it. It really is.”
CHECK IT OUT: The exhibit is open in the lobby of The Arena from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.