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| Captain Norman George flew Wildcats and Corsairs for the USMC in the South Pacific and El Toro Marine Air Base. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/46660089/norman-leavenworth-george https://www.mciwest.marines.mil/About/History/ |
Norman Leavenworth George never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Norman was born on April 29, 1920 in Baird, Texas. His parents Norman and Mabel were also both born in Texas. His father worked as a farmer. Norman had one older brother and one younger sister. By 1940 Norman had completed one year of college and was still living at home.
He enlisted in the US Marines and reached the rank of captain. He was trained as a fighter pilot and flew F4F Wildcats. He was sent to the South Pacific in September 1942. I was not able to determine which VMF squadron he served in. He shot down a Japanese Zero on April 7, 1943 while stationed on Russell Island. On May 23, 1943 his plane crashed (probably a Wildcat) and he was seriously injured and hospitalized for ten months. After recovery, he was promoted to captain and returned to flying.
One year to the day after his 1943 crash, Captain George crashed again on May 23, 1944 at El Toro Marine Air Base in California. He was flying an F4U Corsair and this time he did not survive. I was not able to find out more information about either crash.
His grave is at Ross Cemetery in Baird, Texas.
UPDATE: See comment from David Reid below for more details.
Last year on this date I profiled Carl Harrington, 2nd Armored Division and his brother Charles. You can read about the Harrington brothers here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
According to the VMF-221 War Diary for April, 1943, 2nd Lt. N. L. George was flying an F4F-4 Wildcat on April 7 when he was credited with a shooting down one 'Zero' over the Russels Islands.Solomon Islands.
ReplyDeleteOf note, this was the squadron's same engagement when 1stLt John Swett shot down seven Aichi D3A 'Val' dive-bombers for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. VMF-221, a distinguished member of Guadalcanal's 'Cactus Air Force', shot down 18 Japanese Vals and Zeros in that one engagement, a record for the Marine Corps.
On May 24, 1943, probably in Efate New Hebrides, "Tex" George, on an F4U-1 familiarization flight, 'spun in' when his engine 'conked out' while on his approach landing and crashed. He suffered a torn scalp, broken arm and leg. but no internal injuries. He was not mentioned again in the squadron diaries, so it seems he was sent state-side for recuperation.
David, thanks for adding these details. I will add a note to the profile instructing people to read your comment to learn more. Don Milne
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