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William O. Eareckson

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US Air Force officer and recipient of the Purple Heart medal

William Olmstead Eareckson
At West Point in 1924
Nickname(s)"Eric"
Born(1900-05-30)May 30, 1900
Kent Island, Maryland, U.S.
DiedOctober 25, 1966(1966-10-25) (aged 66)
Sarasota, Florida
Place of burialArlington National Cemetery
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service / branchUnited States Army / United States Army Air Forces
Years of service1917-1924 / 1924-1954
RankColonel
Battles / warsBattle of the Aleutian Islands
Battle of Makin
Battle of Tarawa
AwardsDistinguished Service Cross
Navy Cross
Silver Star
Purple Heart

Colonel William "Eric" Olmstead Eareckson (May 30, 1900 – October 25, 1966) was an U.S. Army Air Forces combat commander during the World War II Battle of the Aleutian Islands.

Biography

William O. Eareckson was the son of Thomas B Eareckson and Sarah Caroline Eareckson (née Tucker). He was born on Kent Island, Maryland on May 30, 1900.

Eareckson enlisted in the Army at age 17 and fought in France during World War I, where he was wounded. After the war he remained in the Army and received a presidential appointment to West Point. While at West Point he composed a fight song for the football team titled "Gridiron Grenadiers". After graduation in 1924, he attended pilot training, but washed out. He then applied to become a balloon pilot and was successful.

In 1928, then-Lieutenant Eareckson, together with Captain William E. Kepner, won the National Balloon Elimination Race and the accompanying Paul W. Litchfield Trophy. It was only two years later, at the relatively advanced age of 30, that Eareckson finally won his airplane pilot rating. In 1939 he was given command of the 36th Bombardment Squadron.

During the Aleutians fighting, Eareckson was famed for his innovative tactics. For example, on August 17, 1942, he used radar-equipped B-17s to guide P-38s to a position from where they shot down two of three raiding Japanese Kawanishi H6K bombers. He also pioneered low-level bombing raids against the enemy to counteract the effects of the consistently poor and unpredictable Aleutian weather.

During the Battle of Attu, Eareckson joined front line infantrymen, borrowed a rifle, and entered the fray – but was quickly wounded by a Japanese sniper. He was awarded a Purple Heart, but was castigated by General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., Commander of the Alaska Defense Command, for "being where you had no business being". Buckner was later killed in the Battle of Okinawa by Japanese artillery while he was near the front line.

In early 1943, midway through the Aleutians campaign, Eareckson was transferred to General Buckner's staff as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Eleventh Air Force. He continued to lead combat missions in that capacity. Later he became a member of Admiral Chester Nimitz's staff. Nimitz, the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Area, had earlier presented Eareckson with a Navy Cross to complement the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and other combat decorations he had earned in the Aleutians.

He served as the Support Aircraft Commander, Fifth Amphibious Force, South Pacific where he took part in the planning for the Hollandia-Aitape landings and served as Support Aircraft Commander aboard the amphibious command ship at the Makin and Tarawa landings.

Although widely respected for his bravery and leadership skills, Eareckson was viewed by some of his Army Air Forces superiors as caustic, outspoken, and difficult to control. These liabilities prevented him from being considered for promotion. When he retired as a colonel in 1954, he had held that rank for 13 years.

He died in Sarasota, Florida on October 25, 1966, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Namesake

Eareckson Air Station, a military airbase located on the island of Shemya in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands, is named after Eareckson.

References

  1. ^ Assembly. Vol. 26–27. United States Military Academy Association of Graduates. 1967. pp. 122–125. Retrieved December 24, 2022 – via Google Books.
  2. "Gridiron Grenadiers". West-Point.Org. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  3. Frisbee, John L. (June 1991). "Valor: Eareckson of the Aleutians". Air Force Magazine. Vol. 74, no. 6. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  4. Joe G. Taylor, Close Air Support in the War Against Japan, US Air Force Historical Studies No. 86, 1955, p. 100.
  5. Crowl, Philip Axtell; Love, Edmund G. (1955). Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls. United States Government Publishing Office. p. 37. Retrieved December 24, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
  6. "William Eareckson". The Tampa Tribune. Sarasota. October 27, 1966. p. 42. Retrieved December 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

Further reading

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