On 2 January 1967, then-Captain Raspberry was serving with the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing. On that day, during Operation BOLO, Raspberry was the aircraft commander * and 1st Lt Robert W. Western the pilot, of an F-4 that shot down a North Vietnamese MIG-21 over North Vietnam. The US claims that it shot down 7 MIG-21s that day.

* In 1967 all USAF F-4s were crewed by two rated pilots, with the more experienced flying the front seat as "aircraft commander." The use of rated navigators as Weapon Systems Officers began in 1969.