Excerpt:

With their advanced age, the men decided their reunion this past April at Ft. Walton, Fla., would be their last. But they also wanted to formally raise a toast in private one last time.

The upcoming ceremony comes as efforts are under way to salute the Doolittle Raiders with a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States.

The raid set off from the former Alameda Naval Air Station and was launched from the USS Hornet (CV-8) , said Bob Fish, a trustee at the USS Hornet Museum.

(The aircraft carrier that took part in the raid was sunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October 1942; the current Hornet, which was being built at the time of the sinking, was named after the lost vessel).