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A Place For Heroes

O'Hare's original name was Orchard Field, which was renamed O'Hare International Airport in 1949 to honor naval pilot Lt. Cmdr. Edward "Butch" O'Hare.

O'Hare International Airport is named for Lt. Cmdr. Edward "Butch" O'Hare, a World War II fighter pilot from Chicago known as one of the greatest heroes in naval history. O'Hare's incredible courage and effective leadership inspired Col. Robert H. McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, to lead the charge to rename the Chicago-area airport (formerly named Orchard Field) in O'Hare's honor in 1949.

O'Hare's Story of Bravery

On February 20, 1942, the U.S.S. Lexington was approximately 400 miles from its destination of Rabaul Harbor in the Solomon Islands when the aircraft carrier was spotted by enemy patrols. Lt. O'Hare and another pilot picked up the formation of enemy fighters closing in on the Lexington and immediately ordered an attack. Within moments, his wingman's guns jammed, and without assistance, O'Hare carried out a swift and decisive strike on the enemy fighters, saving the U.S.S. Lexington and his fellow pilots.

For his inspiring leadership and gallant fighting spirit, O'Hare received the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the mission that saved the Lexington, "one of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation."

For his heroic actions in battles near Marcus Island on August 31, 1943 and near Wake Island on October 5, 1943, O'Hare was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Gold Star, some of the Navy's highest honors.

Just one month later, in November 1943, O'Hare volunteered to lead his squadron on a daring mission to conduct the first-ever Navy nighttime fighter attack from an aircraft carrier. After receiving the go-ahead from his Admiral, O'Hare led the first fighter section to intercept a large force of enemy torpedo bombers, but his plane was lost in enemy action and never found. He was just 29 years old. On November 27, 1944, Butch O'Hare was declared dead. The U.S. Navy recognized his unparalleled bravery with the Navy Cross award. He is also listed in the Navy Memorial Foundation.

The Butch O'Hare Airplane

In his Congressional Medal of Honor winning flight to save the U.S.S. Lexington, Butch O'Hare flew an F4F-3 Wildcat. The Wildcat was an extremely basic flying machine - it had hand-cranked landing gear made primarily of bicycle chains and sprockets, manually-charged guns, vacuum-powered wing flaps, a simple electrical system, and no hydraulics. Despite its simple design, it was a tough plane with a high degree of pilot survivability in crashes. The Wildcat earned for the Grumman Aircraft Factory, where it was built, the nickname "The Iron Works."

An original F4F-3 Wildcat was recovered from Lake Michigan by the United States Navy and donated to the Air Classics Museum. The plane was restored to replicate the one flown by Butch O'Hare. Sponsored by the City of Chicago and McDonald's Corporation, the recovered F4F-3 Wildcat is exhibited in Terminal Two at the West end of the ticketing lobby to honor the extraordinarily heroic feats of O'Hare International Airport's namesake.

There is still one reminder of that distant past when young men who fought America's battles in the skies knew it as Orchard Field. O'Hare's airport code used on tickets and baggage tags is ORD. A sense of history still has a place among all Chicago's achievements.

Two Men, Two Lives

During the course of World War II, many people gained fame in one way or another. One man was Butch O'Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to an aircraft carrier in the Pacific.

Butch O'Hare Debriefing

One time his entire squadron was assigned to fly a particular mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. Because of this, he would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship. His flight leader told him to leave formation and return.

As he was returning to the mothership, he could see a squadron of Japanese Zeroes heading toward the fleet to attack. And with all the fighter planes gone, the fleet was almost defenseless. His was the only opportunity to distract and divert them. Single-handedly, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes and attacked them. The American fighter planes were rigged with cameras, so that as they flew and fought, pictures were taken so pilots could learn more about the terrain, enemy maneuvers, etc.

Butch dove at them and shot until all his ammunition was gone, then he would dive and try to clip off a wing or tail or anything that would make the enemy planes unfit to fly. He did anything he could to keep them from reaching the American ships. Finally, the Japanese squadron took off in another direction, and Butch O'Hare and his fighter, both badly shot up, limped back to the carrier.

"Butch' O'Hare attacks a Japanese 'Kate' torpedo bomber

He told his story, but not until the film from the camera on his plane was developed, did they realize the extent he really went to, to protect his fleet. He was recognized as a hero and given one of the nation's highest military honors. And as you may know, the O'Hare Airport was also named after him.

Prior to this time in Chicago, there was a man named Easy Eddie. He was working for a man you've all heard about, Al Capone. Al Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic, but he was notorious for the murders he'd committed and the illegal things he'd done.

Easy Eddie was Al Capone's lawyer and he was very good. In fact, because of his skill, he was able to keep Al Capone out of jail. To show his appreciation, Al Capone paid him very well. He not only earned big money, he would get extra things, like a residence that filled an entire Chicago city block. The house was fenced, and he had live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day.

Butch O`Hare Meets the 1st Chutai

Easy Eddie had a son. He loved his son and gave him all the best things while he was growing up; clothes, cars, and a good education. And because he loved his son he tried to teach him right from wrong. But one thing he couldn't give his son was a good name, and a good example. Easy Eddie decided that this was much more important than all the riches he had given him.

So, he went to the authorities in order to rectify the wrong he had done. In order to tell the truth, it meant he must testify against Al Capone, and he knew that Al Capone would do his best to have him killed. But he wanted most of all to try to be an example and to do the best he could to give back to his son, a good name. So he testified. Within the year, he was shot and killed on a lonely street in Chicago.

This sounds like two unrelated stories. But Butch O'Hare was Easy Eddie's son.

Additional Sources:

www.ohare.com
www.airwise.com
www.snopes.com
www.geocities.com/Athens
www.ussohare.com
www.aviation-history.com
www.milartgl.com
www.stenbergaa.com
www.cvl-22.com
www.americanflyers.net

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on October 22:
1811 Franz Liszt Raiding, Hungary, romantic composer/virtuoso pianist
1845 Sarah Bernhardt France, silent film actress (Camille, Queen Elizabeth)
1870 Ivan Bunin Russia, poet/novelist (Gentleman from SF-Nobel 1933)
1880 Joe Carr Ohio, NFL hall of famer/NFL president (1921-39)
1885 Giovanni Martinelli Montagnana Italy, opera singer (NY Met)
1887 John Reed journalist who reported on Mexican, Russian revolutions
1896 Charles Glenn King biochemist (discovered vitamin C)
1898 Damaso Alonso Spanish poet (Hijos de la ira)
1905 Constance Bennett actress (Easiest Way, Ladies in Love)
1905 Karl Jansky discovered cosmic radio emissions in 1932
1906 Sidney Kingsley author (Darkness at Noon)
1907 Jimmie Foxx baseball HR hitter (Detroit Tigers)
1915 Harry Hickox Big Springs Tx, (Herb-Please Don't Eat the Daisies)
1916 Sid Miller Shenandoah Pa, actor (Donald O'Connor Texaco Show)
1917 Joan Fontaine Tokyo Japan, actress (Gunga Din, Ivanhoe, Rebecca)
1919 Doris Lessing novelist (Golden Notebook)
1920 Mitzi Green NYC, actress (Little Orphan Annie, So This is Hollywood)
1920 Timothy Leary Harvard prof, LSD taker
1922 John Chafee (Sen-R-RI)
1923 Pete Pihos NFL end (Phil Eagles)
1925 Robert Rauschenberg US, painter (Gloria)
1929 Dory Previn pop singer (Love Be My Cover)
1933 Donald H Peterson Winona Mississippi, Col USAF/astronaut (STS 6)
1934 Donald McIntyre Auckland NZ, Bass-Baritone (Wotan-Das Rheingold)
1935 Judy Devlin Hashman 10 time badminton champ (1957-67)
1938 Christopher Lloyd Stamford Ct, actor (Taxi, Back to the Future)
1938 Derek Jacobi London England, actor (Lanner-Strauss Family)
1939 Tony Roberts NYC, actor (Annie Hall, Edge of Night, Lucie Arnaz Show)
1942 Annette Funicello Utica NY, actress (Mickey Mouse Club)
1943 Catherine Deneuve [Dorleac], Paris, actress (Repulsion, Hunger)
1943 Paul Zukofsky Brooklyn NY, violinist (Cappricio)
1945 Leslie West [Weinstein] rocker (Mountain-Mississippi Queen)
1947 Lee Meredith [Judith Lee Sauls], River Edge NJ, actress (Producers)
1948 John Peterson US, Middleweight (Olympic-gold-1976)
1952 Jeff Goldblum Pitts Pa, actor (The Fly, Thank God it's Friday)
1952 Patti Davis aka Patricia Ann Reagan, 1st daughter (House of Secrets)
1961 Barbara Potter Ct, tennis player (changed shirt on Wimbledon Court)
1961 Leonard Marshall NFL defensive end (NY Giants)
1963 Brian Boitano US, figure skater (Olympic-gold-1988)
1963 Cherie Witter Everett Wash, playmate (February, 1985)
1966 Valeria Golino Naples Italy, actress (Rain Man, Little Flames)
1980 Michael Fishman actor (DJ-Roseanne)
1985 Zachary Walker Hanson Tulsa OK, drummer-Hanson, (MMMBop)

Deaths which occurred on October 22:
0741 Charles (the Hammer) Martel, ruler of the Franks, dies at 63
1565 Jean Grolier de Servi‚res French bibliophile, dies
1906 Paul Cezanne, French painter, dies at 67
1932 Anna Dickinson dies just a week shy of her 90th birthday
1934 Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd shot dead by FBI in Ohio
1975 Arnold Toynbee, English historian/cultural sociologist, dies at 86
1979 Jesse Bishop murderer, dies in Nevada gas chamber
1984 Napoleon Whiting actor (Silas-Big Valley), dies at 75
1986 Ivor Francis actor (Dusty's Trail), dies at 68
1992 Red Barber, sportscaster (Dodgers, Yankees), dies at 84
1994 Harold Horace Hopkins, inventor (Endoscope), dies at 75

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1964 TOWERY HERMAN---FT BRAGG NC.
[REMAINS RECOVERED ID 10/27/64]
1965 CHERRY FRED V.---SUFFOLK VA.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1965 MANN ROBERT LEE---LAFAYETTE IN.
[FIREBALL NO RADIO CONTACT]
1965 MC EWEN JAMES ARTHUR---WASHINGTON PA.
[FIREBALL NO RADIO CONTACT]
1965 WEGER JOHN JR.---SAN FERNANDO CA.
[FIREBALL NO RADIO CONTACT]
1966 HARRIS HAROLD L.---DURHAM NC.
1966 KLENERT WILLIAM BLUE---BELLMORE NY.
[03/18/77 SRV RETURNED REMAINS TO PCOM]
1966 KOLSTAD THOMAS CARL---PARKVILLE MN.
[03/18/77 SRV RETURNED REMAINS TO PCOM]
1966 MC BRIDE EARL PAUL---VOLANT PA.
1967 DOOLEY JAMES E.---MANCHESTER CENTER VT.
1971 GARRETT MAURICE E. JR.---MERCER PA.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
4004 -BC- Universe created at 8:00 PM, according to the Anglican archbishop James Ussher 1650
1746 Princeton University (NJ) received its charter
1797 Andr‚-Jacques Garnerin makes 1st parachute jump from balloon (Paris)
1824 The Tennessee Legislature adjourns ending Davy Crockett's state political career
1836 Sam Houston inaugurated as 1st elected pres of Republic of Texas
1861 1st telegraph line linking West & East coasts completed
1862 Union troops push 5,000 confederates out of Maysbille, Ark., at the Second Battle of Pea Ridge
1862 Confederate troops reconquer Cumberland Gap, Tennessee
1875 Sons of the American Revolution organized
1883 1st NY Horse Show held (Madison Sq Garden)
1883 Original Metropolitan Opera House (NYC) grand opening (Faust)
1906 3000 blacks demonstrate & riot in Phila
1918 The cities of Baltimore and Washington run out of coffins during the "Spanish Inflenza" epidemic.
1922 Lucerne Street in the Bronx named
1922 Parsifal Place laid out in Bronx, named for knight in Wagner's Opera
1928 Pres Hoover speaks of "American system of rugged individualism"
1936 1st commercial flight from mainland to Hawaii
1938 Chester Carlson invents the photocopier. He tries to sell the machine to IBM, RCA, Kodak and others, but they see no use for a gadget that makes nothing but copies.
1939 1st TV NFL game-Eagles vs Dodgers
1949 200 killed in train derailment near Nowy Dwor Poland
1950 LA Rams beat Baltimore Colts 70-27
1953 Laos gains full independence from France
1954 West Germany joins North Atlantic Treaty Organization
1955 The prototype of the F-105 Thunder Chief makes its maiden flight
1962 JFK imposes naval blockade on Cuba, beginning missile crisis
1962 Pacific Science Center opens at Seattle Center
1964 EMI rejects audition by "High Numbers," they go on to become The Who
1963 225,000 students boycott Chicago schools in Freedom Day protest
1964 Jean Paul Satre declines the Nobel Prize for Literature.
1966 USSR launches Luna 12 for orbit around Moon
1968 Apollo 7 returns to Earth
1969 KAPN-AM in Santa Barbara CA changes call letters to KDB-AM
1972 Oakland A's 1st championship; beat Reds, 4 games to 3 in 69th World Series
1972 Operation Linebacker I, the bombing of North Vietnam with B-52 bombers, ends.
1973 Security Council Resolution 338-cease fire to the Yom Kippur War
1974 Yanks trade Bobby Murcer to Giants for Bobby Bonds
1975 Cin Reds beat Boston Red Sox, 4 games to 3 in 72nd World Series
1975 Soviet spacecraft Venera 9 soft-lands on Venus
1975 World Football League disbands
1976 Rick Barry (SF), begins then longest NBA free throw streak of 60
1977 International Sun-Earth Explorers 1 & 2 launched into Earth orbit
1978 Laugh-in's Judy Carne arrested at Gatwick Airport for drug possession
1979 Deposed Shah of Iran arrives in NY for medical treatment
1979 Walt Disney World's 100-millionth guest
1980 New South Korean constitution comes into effect
1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization decertified
1981 US national debt tops $1 trillion
1984 NFL quarterback Ken Stabler retires
1984 Paul McCartney releases "Give My Regards to Broad Street" soundtrack
1988 Elton John sells out MSG for a record 26th time
1988 Supreme Ct Justice Sandra Day O'Connor OK after breast cancer surgery
1991 General Motors announces 9 month loss of $2.2 billion
1994 Statue of Sam Houston unveiled in Texas

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

India, Mauritius, Singapore : Deepavali Day
Japan : Jidai Matsuri/Festival of the Eras (1895)
Puerto Rico : Veterans Day
Vatican City : National Day
US : Mother-in-Law's Day (Sunday)
US some states : Veterans Day (Monday)
US : Francis E Willard Day-temperance day (Friday)
National Forrest Products Week (Day 4)
National Copycat Day
National Pharmacy Week (Day 4)
National day to be a copycat
Gourmet Adventures Month
Country Music Month
National Sarcastics' Awareness Month

Religious Observances
Christ : SS Philip, bishop of Heraclea, & his companions, martyrs
RC : Commemoration of St Theodoret, priest/martyr

Religious History
_451 During the Fifth Session of the Council of Chalcedon, the final form of the Chalcedonian Creed was drafted. It became the Early Church's highest and most enduring "definition" of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
1844 The "Great Disappointment" began when this latest date, set for the return of Christ by religious leader William Miller, passed without event. Over 100,000 disillusioned followers returned to their former churches, or abandoned the Christian faith altogether.
1899 American Presbyterian missionary James B. Rodgers, 34, baptized his first Filipino converts to the Christian faith, thus inaugurating the beginning of Philippine Protestant churches.
1952 The complete Jewish Torah was published in English for the first time. A collection of oral and written commentary (dating 200 BC to AD 500) on the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah comprises the basic religious code of Judaism.
1966 Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth declared in a letter: 'God makes no mistakes.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."

You might be a Minnesotan if...
you were proud when you turned 12 and got a pair of "5 bucklers" for your birthday.

Murphys Law of the day...(Agnes Allen's Law)
Almost anything is easier to get into than out of.

Amazing fact #200,987,725.5...
Elizabeth I of England suffered from anthophobia, a fear of roses.