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| P-38 pilot Captain T. H. McArthur was an ace in the 82nd Fighter Group in North Africa. Photos provided by Roger Enlow, Captain McArthur's grandnephew. |
T. H. McArthur never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
A big thanks to Roger Enlow who recommended that his great uncle T. H. be recognized and remembered in this profile. Roger provided many of the details shared below.
T. H. was born on May 25, 1920 in Albany, Texas. His parents Tom and Bessie were also both born in Texas. His father worked as a ranch hand, and later as a farmer. His mother died in 1924. T. H. had one older sister, Alma. He graduated from Zephyr High School in 1937 where he was vice president of the senior class as well as being elected “most popular”. He then went to Daniel Baker College where he studied for two years before enlisting.
He volunteered for the Army Air Corps in February 1941 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in October. He was assigned to the 38th Pursuit Squadron, 55th Pursuit Group in Portland. There the training began with the new P-38 Lightning in March 1942. Learning to fly this unique plane was hazardous. Many other pilots were killed while training. In May, 1942 he was transferred to the new 95th Fighter Squadron, 82nd Fighter Group which was flying the P-38 at March Field, California. T. H. was promoted to first lieutenant in July. He was promoted again to captain in October 1942.
In July, 1942 the 82nd was sent overseas on the Queen Mary, eventually arriving in England in October. After training in England, the 82nd was sent to North Africa and Captain McArthur entered combat on December 25, 1942. The 82nd was headquartered in Algeria. He was promoted to Squadron Commander of the 95th FS on April 12, 1943.
On May 3, 1943, while on an escort mission, the weather turned bad and the mission was aborted and pilots were instructed to return to base. Low on fuel, Captain McArthur and two others landed at an RAF base in Algeria for re-fueling. After completion, he and the others attempted to take off in the bad weather in order to return to their base. Due to unfamiliarity of the terrain, all three crashed into the mountains surrounding the RAF base and were killed.
Overall Captain McArthur was credited with 5 enemy kills, making him one of the first American aces in the war against the Axis -- 4 German and 1 Italian planes, 1 other probable kill, as well as the sinking of a boat while on a skip bombing mission.
He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters.
His grave is at Goldthwaite Memorial Cemetery in Goldthwaite, Texas.
This story is also saved at https://www.fold3.com/page/84755906-t-h-mcarthur/stories as part of the Stories Behind the Stars project to have stories of all the US World War II fallen at one location to be accessible from all war memorials and cemeteries. We are going to need hundreds, and probably thousands of volunteers to make this happen. It is free to join and enriching to research and write these stories.
Last year on this date I profiled Luzon fallen Troy Evans, 32nd Infantry Division. You can read about Troy 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
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