Lt Col Horace E. (Sally) Crouch, USAF
Class of 1940
Hometown: Columbia, SC
- Crouch was one of 80 volunteers chosen for a secret mission to bomb Tokyo, Japan ordered by President Roosevelt in response to Japan's infamous surprise attack on the American Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
- The daring raid was led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle whose "Doolittle Raiders" flew their sixteen B-25s off the aircraft carrier USS Hornet on April 18, 1945. Pilots were instructed to land their planes in China as they could not carry enough fuel to return home. Crouch was the navigator/bombardier on Plane #10. His plane was among the few to succeed in their mission of delivering the bombs to Tokyo. Crouch was personally credited with shooting down two Japanese Zero fighters during the raid. After reaching China, he bailed out and landed on the side of a mountain where he and another member of his crew were found and led to safety by Chinese guerillas.
- Crouch remained in the China-Burma-India Theater until June 13, 1943. After World War II, he served three tours in the Pacific and one tour each in England, North Africa and Germany. Crouch retired from the Air Force as Lieutenant Colonel and taught public school in Columbia, South Carolina. His decorations include the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Chinese Army, Navy, Air Corps Medal, Class A, 1st Grade.