Lt. Col. Edward Saylor was 94 when he died Thursday. He was one of the remaining four members of the Doolittle Raiders, the group of raiders who volunteered for a mission to launch an air raid over Tokyo just four months after Pearl Harbor was attacked.
Rod Saylor, son of Lt. Col. Saylor, told the Associated Press his father passed away in Sumner, Washington. He died of natural causes.
The Doolittle Raid, which is chronicled in the autobiography of mission planner Col. James Doolittle, failed to exact much damage on the Japanese factories and military areas that were its targets. Still, the mission brought home a massive morale boost for the American people, who were still shocked by what happened to Pearl Harbor.
"Ed was a super guy," says Brian Anderson, one of Saylor's long-time friends, in an interview with the Air Force Times. "He had a great smile and was a gentle individual."
Anderson says the flight engineer-gunner Saylor was part of Crew 15, which almost never took off from the Hornet aircraft because of an engine problem. It was Saylor who fixed the problem even without the necessary tools onboard the aircraft carrier and allowed the B-25 to take off.
"What a lot of people don't know is that he saved Aircraft 15 to go on the mission. It had an engine problem. If Ed had not fixed the problem, they would have pushed his B-25 overboard," Anderson says. "The rest is history. Plane 15 took off with no issues thanks to the work of Ed Saylor."
Saylor was born in Brussett, Montana in 1920. World War II broke out when he was 19, so he signed up as a mechanic for the Army Air Corps enticed by the promise of $78 in monthly salary and decent peacetime pay. He was 22 years old when he signed up for a secret mission; Saylor never knew that on April 28, 1942, he would be doing something he will be considered a hero for.
"There is no way you can call yourself a hero," Saylor told Air Force Times in 2009. "That is for someone else to say."
Last year, Saylor received the Congressional Gold Medal in an awarding ceremony in Washington D.C. Lt. Col. Richard Cole, Lt. Col. Robert Hite, and Staff Sgt. David Thatcher, the last three Doolittle Raiders, also received the same award for their valor and heroism.
Anderson says he last saw his friend at a Veterans Day event in Washington D.C. He says Saylor was a gracious gentleman who was always eager to tell stories about the Doolittle Raid and give out autographs for those who asked.
"I'm just honored I had the chance to call him my friend," Anderson says.
He says Saylor asked for a quiet burial and be placed next to his wife. In lieu of flowers, he asked for donations to the Wounded Warrior Foundation.
Ed Saylor was married to Lorraine Saylor. They had three children and a host of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.
