World War II Chronicle

World War II Chronicle: November 26, 1942

Chris Carter

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Page four reports that Brig. Gen. Asa N. Duncan, the Eighth Air Force’s chief of staff, has become the second Army Air Force general lost at sea. He was riding as a passenger from England to North Africa when his B-17 develops an engine fire and crashes into the Bay of Biscay. Duncan served as a corporal in the Alabama National Guard before receiving his commission, then became an aerial artillery observer during World War I, attached to the 91st Aero Squadron. Crews recover the bodies of Maj. John M. Knox (commanding officer of the 341st Bomb Squadron) and 1st Lt. Leslie S. Birleson, but the rest of the crew are never found…

The sports section begins on page 39, which discusses the upcoming college football bowl picture. Navy pre-flight academies will not be participating since cadets can’t be away from their studies that long. Army’s likely lineup for their upcoming game against Navy:

  • James E. Kelleher, First Captain of cadets, third-team All-American selection (1942), retires as a colonel
  • Francis E. Merritt, two-time All-American, retires as an Air Force colonel, inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame1
  • Thomas A. Messereau, earns a Silver Star with the 11th Airborne Division, retires as a major
  • Casimir “Cas” Myslinski, 1943 co-captain, received Knute Rockne Award2 and named consensus All-American in 1943, played football for Third Air Force while training to become a bomber pilot. Flew F-104s before returning to West Point as an assistant football coach, retiring as an Air Force lieutenant colonel. 1
  • Willard B. Wilson Jr., perishes in a July 1943 plane crash while training to become a bomber pilot
  • Robert “Robin” Olds Jr., son of Maj. Gen. Robert Olds; named All-American, “Lineman of the Year” by Colliers magazine, and Grantland Rice’s “Player of the Year” in 1942; also belongs to the College Football Hall of Fame1
  • John J. Hennessey, voted Army’s best all-around athlete, lettering in football, basketball and baseball; served as deputy commander of 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions during Vietnam War, rose to four-star general and named Commander in Chief of Readiness Command (USCINCRED) during the Cold War
  • Herschel A. Jarrell, becomes a B-17 pilot, killed in action over Germany in Jan. 1944
  • Henry J. “Hank” Mazur, second-team All-American selection and captain of 1942 squad, becomes P-47 Thunderbolt pilot and shoots down three enemy fighters during the war, retires as an Air Force lieutenant colonel
  • George H. Troxell Jr., served in the Naval Reserve before attending West Point
Hennessey as USCINCRED. His deputy at Readiness Command was Charles “Buck” Pattillo, who we wrote about here

1: Member of West Point’s athletic hall of fame
2: Knute Rockne Award is presented each year to college football’s most outstanding lineman

Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 26 November 1942. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1942-11-26/ed-1/

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