According to reports from the US, the final toast of the surviving Doolittle Raiders will happen in private later this year.
The Doolittle Raiders flew B-25 Mitchells from the deck of the USS Hornet in April 1942 to bomb Tokyo in retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
The raid did very little material damage, although the blow to Japanese morale was significant, given that Emporer Hirohito had told the people their country was impervious to attack.
Sixty-two raiders survived the war, and in 1959 the city of Tuscon, Arizona created 80 goblets, each one engraved with the name of a raider. Along with the goblets came a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Cognac.
Each year at raiders' reunions, the goblets of those who have died have been turned down. The last two remaining would toast their absent friends from the bottle of cognac. Doolitle himself died in 1993.
This year, the goblet belonging to Tom Griffin was turned down, leaving only four raiders: Dick Cole, Robert Hite, Edward Saylor and David Thatcher. Rather than wait until only two remain, the four - all in their 90s - have decided to meet later this year to make the toast to the 76 gone before them.
The last official public reunion takes place this week.