Preview
Identifier
20037356
Description
In the picture is Lieutenant Walter C. Beneke Junior of Orange, Texas siting on a chair. He is a visitor of his aunt, Mrs. J. M. Boyd, and his uncle, Frank S. Beneke. Beneke spent a year in the Central Pacific as a divebomber pilot with the 531st Squadron, the only squadron in the United States Army Air Forces flying Douglas Dauntless divebombers. His 192-mile flight back in a flaming divebomber to his own base, after a raid on Japanese gun position on Milli in the Marshall Islands is now one of the legends among fighting men of the Pacific. Beneke wears the Purple Heart, the DFC and the Air Medal with two clusters for his 32 combat mission. He married Miss Eleanor Florence, daughter of a retired naval officer living in Honolulu. His wife is with him in Houston, where he is stationed at Ellington Field. Beneke said 14 of the 27 planes in his squadron where piloted by Texans and "we kept our tents together and flew Texas flags over them". Beneke is a son of Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Beneke. He attended Lamar College at Organe, entered service in January 1942, and received his wings at Brooks Field. Published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram morning edition, October 27, 1944.
Archival Date
1944-10-26
Collection Name
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection
Collection Number
AR406-6-601
Original Format
Negatives, Black & White
File Format
JPG
Rights
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License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Subjects
Military uniforms
Names
Beneke, Walter, Jr.
Subjects
Military uniforms