DUANE
Duane's take
The marker in Val Verde County tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Del Rio, Texas. September 17, 1914.
A boy named Jack Thomas Laughlin comes into the world, and nobody yet knows what that name is going to mean to this town. He grows up right there in Del Rio — goes to Del Rio High School, earns his degree from the University of Texas. And then, in 1940, he joins the Army Air Corps.
The following year, he receives his pilot's wings out at Stockton, California. A Del Rio boy, certified to fly. Now here's where the story takes its turn.
January 29, 1942. World War II is young and already hungry. Jack Laughlin is at the controls of a B-17 Flying Fortress somewhere over the Java Sea in the Indonesian islands — and that aircraft is shot down.
Back home in Del Rio, word arrives. The first Del Rio-born pilot killed in the war. That's how history would mark him.
Not the last sacrifice this country would make, but this one — this one was theirs. That same year, the U.S. Army established an airfield in Del Rio.
And the citizens and officials of that town did something that took a little nerve: they requested the field be named for Laughlin. Now, there was an official policy for naming bases — the kind of policy that tends to win arguments. But the idea prevailed anyway.
Sometimes a town's grief outweighs a regulation. In March of 1943, Laughlin Field was dedicated. And standing there at that ceremony were the people who felt his absence most — his widow, and his daughter.
Del Rio still carries that name. And now you know whose name it is.
What the marker says
Born in Del Rio on Sept. 17, 1914, Jack Thomas Laughlin graduated from Del Rio High School and earned a degree from the University of Texas. In 1940, he joined the Army Air Corps and the following year received his pilot’s wings at Stockton, CA. On Jan. 29, 1942, during World War II, his B-17 Flying Fortress was shot down over the Java Sea in the Indonesian islands. The U.S. Army established an airfield in Del Rio that year, and citizens and officials requested it be named for Laughlin, the first Del Rio-born pilot killed in the war. Despite the official policy for naming bases, the idea prevailed, and in March 1943 Laughlin Field was dedicated with the pilot’s widow and daughter in attendance. (2006)