DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the voice carrying it down the road. Neel E. Kearby came into this world in Wichita Falls on June 5, 1911, the son of Dr.
John Gallatin Kearby, Jr. and Bessie Lee Kearby. He grew up mostly in Mineral Wells, then made his way to Arlington, where he graduated from Arlington High School in 1928 and started college at North Texas Agricultural College — the same institution you know today as the University of Texas at Arlington. By 1937, he had a business degree from the University of Texas at Austin and had joined the U.S.
Army Air Corps. Not a bad pivot for a boy from Mineral Wells. He began flight training at Randolph Field in San Antonio, and it was there — among the runways and the Texas heat — that he met Virginia King Cochran, the woman who would become his wife.
That detail matters. Hold onto it. Once commissioned, Kearby worked through a series of assignments, and in 1942 he was selected to command the 348th Fighter Group.
The unit trained in New England before receiving its combat assignment in the Pacific Theater. And what he was training them on was the P-47 Thunderbolt — a plane widely known, even by the people flying it, as bulky and cumbersome. Not exactly the weapon a man dreams of taking into a dogfight.
But Kearby didn't work around the Thunderbolt's reputation. He worked with it. He developed aggressive tactics, and his pilots used them with great success against the enemy.
Now. He named his own P-47 the Fiery Ginger. After his wife.
You think about that — a man climbing into a big, stubborn airplane in the Pacific, carrying his wife's name on the nose, and then going out to do what he did. During a six-month stretch in 1943 and 1944, Kearby flew missions and accumulated 22 aerial victories. Twenty-two.
But one day stands above the rest. October 11, 1943. On that single mission, Neel Kearby destroyed six enemy aircraft — a record at the time.
Six in one day. The events of that mission earned him the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor. He kept flying.
That's the thing about men like this — they keep going back up. His final mission was March 5, 1944. Near Wewak, New Guinea, after downing an enemy bomber, Kearby was killed in action.
The Fiery Ginger did not come home. Over the course of his career, he had also earned two Silver Stars, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, five Air Medals, and the Purple Heart. A ledger of valor that takes a moment to sit with.
His body was recovered after the war. On July 23, 1949, Neel E. Kearby was buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas.
A boy from Mineral Wells. A graduate from Arlington. A man who took a cumbersome airplane and made it something to fear.
That's the story the marker leaves you with — and it's plenty.
What the marker says
Neel E. Kearby was born in Wichita Falls on June 5, 1911 to Dr. John Gallatin Kearby, Jr. and Bessie Lee (Stone) Kearby. He spent much of his childhood in Mineral Wells, but later moved to Arlington, graduating from Arlington High School in 1928 and beginning college at North Texas Agricultural College (now the University of Texas at Arlington). In 1937, Kearby received a business degree at the University of Texas at Austin and joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. He began flight training at Randolph Field in San Antonio, where he met his future wife, Virginia King Cochran. Once commissioned, Kearby completed a series of assignments and in 1942 was selected to command the 348th Fighter Group, which trained in New England prior to combat assignment in the Pacific Theater. During that time, Kearby trained his unit to effectively deploy the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter plane. Although the Thunderbolt was known to be bulky and cumbersome, Kearby developed aggressive tactics that his pilots used with great success against the enemy. During a six-month period in 1943 and 1944, Kearby bravely led missions in his P-47 (named the Fiery Ginger, after his wife), accumulating 22 aerial victories, including the destruction of a then-record six enemy aircraft in a single mission on October 11, 1943. The events of that day earned Kearby the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor. His final mission occurred on March 5, 1944, when he was killed in action near Wewak, New Guinea, after downing an enemy bomber. During his military career, Kearby also earned two Silver Stars, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, five Air Medals and the Purple Heart. His body was recovered after the war and buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas on July 23, 1949. (2009)