Capt. Rafe McCawley

- Early Life
Rafe Was born on a farm in Tennessee, 1917. In 1923, Rafe and his best friend, Danny Walker, are playing together in the back of an old plane, pretending to be soldiers fighting the Germans in WWI. After Rafe's father lands his crop duster and leaves, the two boys climb into the plane. Rafe accidentally starts it, but manages to stop the plane at the end of the runway. Enraged, Danny's father beats his son. Rafe stands up to him, calling him a "dirty German". However, Danny's father reveals that he fought the Germans in World War I. A humbled Rafe steps back and watches Danny walk home with his father. The two remain close friends throughout the years.

Eighteen years later, in January 1941, with World War II near America's front door, Danny and Rafe, now first lieutenants in the United States Army, are under the command of Major Doolittle. Doolittle informs Rafe that he has been accepted into the Eagle Squadron (a RAF outfit for American pilots). Rafe informs Danny, who is not pleased at all with his choice to go and seek after war, which is already so close to home. Rafe tells not to worry and cheer up. Later that night, Rafe, Danny, and the other pilots meet nurse Evelyn Johnson, whom Rafe has been dating. She and her friends go out with the others. That night, Rafe and Evelyn enjoy an evening of dancing at a nightclub and later a jaunt in the New York harbor in a borrowed police boat. Rafe shocks Evelyn by saying that he has joined the Eagle Squadron and is leaving the next day.