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.)
Airmen and Guardians in the Active and Reserve component, as well as civilian employees, in “mission critical and high-risk populations” are now required to receive influenza vaccinations annually to “preserve force readiness,” according to a recent Department of the Air Force memo.