 |
| Senior Class photo of Jack Bade, 1938. |
When
I first arrived in Sherburne County I began to explore the history of the
county through biography. I was
developing my list of “profiles in courage” in Sherburne county, a type of
historical/biographical exploration.
Recently I was directed to the life of one man in Sherburne County that
most assuredly should be on a list of “profiles in courage:”
Jack
A. Bade was born in 1920 in Minneapolis.
His family moved to Elk River when he was still an infant. He grew up in Elk River. In high school he played football and
basketball, and had the lead in the school play, Robin Hood. After he graduated in 1938, he attended the
University of Minnesota majoring in engineering. For a time he worked at Honeywell
Corporation before enlisting in the Army Air Corps.
He
received his commission and flight wings at Luke Airfield on July 26,
1942. He then joined the 44th fighter
squadron of the 18th Fighter group in the Pacific theater in December.
During
his service in the Pacific theater in 1943, he earned the unique title of
flying ace. From January through
September of 1943 Lt. Jack Bade was credited with destroying 5 enemy aircraft
with one more probable. Lt. Bade earned
a Distinguished Service Cross for heroism on 13 February 1943. In the citation Bade is credited with heroism
while piloting a P-40 fighter to protect bombers from Japanese Zeros. At one point, the citation notes, “Undeterred
by complete lack of fire power and suffering great pain, he put his damaged
plane through a series of headlong passes with such formidable aggressiveness
that the Japanese airmen broke off their fight and fled.” He was reassigned to
the home front in September of 1943. For
the remainder of the war he served as a flight instructor. At the end of the conflict he worked as a
test pilot for Republic Aviation. He was
killed in a test flight on May 2, 1963.
World
War II clearly brought out courage and the best in many men and women from
Sherburne County, if not throughout the United States. Jack Bade is just one
example of these men and women referred to as “the greatest generation” and
certainly warrant attention on any list of “profiles in courage.”
No comments:
Post a Comment