World War II Chronicle

World War II Chronicle: December 19, 1941

Chris Carter

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Dargue (left) and Edgar S. Gorrell near Casas Grandes, Mexico, April 1916

Page three mentions the ongoing search in the High Sierra Mountains for the lost crew of a Boeing B-18 bomber that was ferrying the commanding officer of the First Air Force and staff on a transcontinental flight from Long Island’s Mitchel Field to San Francisco.

Chief of Staff of the Army Air Force Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold selected Maj. Gen. Herbert A. Dargue to travel to Oahu where he would investigate the perceived lack of preparedness of the U.S. Armed Forces at Pearl Harbor. Dargue, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy graduate (Class of ’11), served in the 1st Aero Squadron and was a veteran of the Pancho Villa Expedition.

Dargue received the very first Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), which was first awarded to pilots that conducted a 22,000-mile Pan-American goodwill flight. Another pilot on the flight was Capt. Ira C. Eaker, who on this date in 1941 is the commander of California’s Hamilton Field and will soon be picked to command the Eighth Air Force.

Dargue is the first American general to die on duty during the second world war. His son Donald (USMA ’43) flew B-17s over Europe and was shot down, spending six months in German captivity. Grandson Herbert flew helicopters during Vietnam and Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.

President Calvin Coolidge awards DFCs to the eight surviving members of the Pan American flight, on 2 May 1927 in Washington, D.C. From left to right: The crew of the Loening OA-1 float plane The New York – Maj. Dargue and Lt. Ennis Whitehead; The San Antonio – Capt. Arthur McDaniel and Lt. Charles Robinson; The San Francisco – Capt. Ira Eaker and Lt. Muir S. Fairchild (namesake of Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.); The St. Louis – Lt. Bernard Thompson and Lt. Leonard Weddington.

The crew of The Detroit — Capt. Clinton F. Woolsey and Lt. John Benton — perished during an accident during bad weather over the Andes Mountains. Woolsey planned to attempt the first solo Transatlantic flight after his return from the goodwill flight, but Charles Lindbergh — a former student pilot of Woolsey’s — successfully makes the crossing three months after his instructor’s death… Sports section begins on page 48

Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 19 December 1941. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1941-12-19/ed-1/

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