Retired Col. James H. Macia Jr., one of the famed Doolittle Raiders, passed away Dec. 20 in Philadelphia. His family informed us of the loss. According to Monday’s San Antonio Express-News obituary, he was 93 and died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. Macia, then a lieutenant, was the navigator-bombardier in one of the 16 B-25s that took off from the USS Hornet on April 18, 1942, in the daring bombing raid on the Japanese home island. Led by then-Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, the raid was a huge psychological lift to the US, coming less than five months after Pearl Harbor. The crew of Macia’s aircraft bailed out over China after the raid; he made it to safety. (Click here for post-raid photo of Macia posted at Doolittle Raiders, the raiders’ official Web site.) (For more, read Doolittle’s Raid from the April 2009 issue of Air Force Magazine.)
Reports: DOD Planning to Draw Down Forces in Middle East
June 21, 2021
The Pentagon is reportedly planning to draw down the number of fighter squadrons in the Middle East while also withdrawing missile defense systems as part of a broad shift in the U.S. military’s force posture in the region. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III informed the Saudi regime that Terminal…