Pictures of the Year: Billy Calzada

Dick Cole is a national treasure. He is an unassuming centenarian, among the very last of his kind — one of the millions of Americans who served and saved the world from Nazi and imperial Japanese tyranny during World War II.

Cole played a special role in that war so long ago. He was co-pilot to the renowned aviator Jimmy Doolittle during the famous Tokyo Raid on April 18, 1942.

Let me remind you of what America was facing back then. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had cost nearly 3,000 American lives, and much the Navy’s Pacific fleet lay in ruins. The Japanese military looked invincible. Many Americans believed there was nothing to stop them from invading the mainland on the West Coast.

Enter the Doolittle Tokyo raiders. Despite the dangerous certainty that they would not be able to land their aircraft safely, they flew their B-25 bombers off of the deck of the Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet and bombed Tokyo and other targets in Japan. In truth, they did little damage. But the boost to American morale and the uplifting effect in our country was priceless.

Cole now lives near Comfort. I visited him to make a photograph for a story to run on his upcoming 100th birthday in September. He graciously invited me in. He sat and answered fan mail much of the afternoon that I was with him. He was very careful and precise with each signature, as if imparting a bit of himself with each letter and postcard.

When it was time for me to go, he gave me a good, firm handshake. Just as I turned to walk away, I remembered that my fellow Express-News photographer Kin Man Hui was celebrating his own birthday. I asked Cole if he’d be so kind as to wish Kin Man a happy birthday. He very happily agreed. I stood by as he left a message on Kin Man’s voice mail, saying, “Well, you beat me to it. Happy birthday!”

Kin Man said that he was going to save that voice mail as a treasure for himself.

Click through the slideshow to see more of Billy Calzada’s favorite photographs of 2015.