Community members joined veterans aboard the USS Hornet on Tuesday to honor the memory of the men who joined Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle on his April 18, 1942, raid on Japan. Kelly Estes, whose great-uncle Sgt. Donald Fitzmaurice lost his life during the raid, addressed those gathered for the ceremony (below). 

Fitzmaurice served as the engineer-gunner on the Green Hornet, the sixth B-25 to take off from USS Hornet. After bombing Tokyo, his crew flew to China. When their plane ran out of fuel, they ditched it off the coast. Fitzmaurice and Cpl. William Dieter drowned in the aircraft when it ditched. 

Fitzmaurice was originally interred in Shatow, China. His remains were later returned to the United States. He rests at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno. 

After the ceremony on Tuesday Estes adorned her great-uncle’s grave with the wreath in the photograph.