Butch O'Hare: The Rest of the Story.
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The document is a biography of Butch O'Hare that describes his early life and career as a naval aviator. It details his upbringing, becoming a fighter pilot, and his heroic actions during a battle in the Pacific that led to him becoming the U.S. Navy's first ace of World War 2 and receiving the Medal of Honor. It also provides background on O'Hare's father and his involvement in Al Capone's criminal operations in Chicago during the 1920s.
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Butch O'Hare: The Rest of the Story.
- 1. Dan Poynter’s The Rest of the Story © 2012 ParaPub.com
- 2. Butch’s Early Years Butch O’Hare was born in 1914. He graduated from Western Military Academy in 1932, at the age of 18. Father taught him how to shoot. Butch was a fine marksman and became president of the rifle club. ParaPub.com
- 5. Coal Oil Point, Santa Barbara. ParaPub.com
- 6. ParaPub.com
- 7. ParaPub.com
- 8. Butch Became a Fighter Pilot ParaPub.com
- 10. Lexington is Discovered Kawanshi H6K Mavis flying boat ParaPub.com
- 11. Butch had to Turn Back ParaPub.com
- 12. O’Hare Attacked the 9 Bombers ParaPub.com
- 13. Mitsubishi G4M Betty Bomber ParaPub.com
- 14. ParaPub.com
- 15. An Ace in 4 Minutes ParaPub.com
- 16. ParaPub.com
- 17. 60 Rounds per Downed Plane ParaPub.com
- 18. ParaPub.com
- 19. U.S. Navy’s First Ace Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare ParaPub.com
- 21. ParaPub.com
- 22. Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor 21 April 1942: President Roosevelt, Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy [behind FDR], Admiral Ernest King, Edward O'Hare and his wife Rita. ParaPub.com
- 23. Visit to Grumman Aircraft Corporation ParaPub.com
- 24. He Instructed New Pilots and Crews ParaPub.com
- 30. ParaPub.com
- 32. Butch O’Hare Exhibit at ORD ParaPub.com
- 33. Visit the Display Between terminals 1 2: C and F gates See the plane, read about Butch O’Hare, see his statue, CMH, a nd think about what he did. ParaPub.com
- 34. ParaPub.com
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- 37. Butch’s Father Edgar Joseph O’Hare (EJ). A lawyer Ran a dog racing track 1927, He divorced his wife Selma and moved from St Louis to Chicago. ParaPub.com
- 41. Easy Eddie was Very Good ParaPub.com
- 42. ParaPub.com
- 43. ParaPub.com
- 44. Scarface Easy Eddie ParaPub.com
- 45. Easy Eddie’s Home in Chicago ParaPub.com
- 46. Easy Eddie Lived the High Live ParaPub.com
- 47. Eddie Did His Best for Butch ParaPub.com
- 48. Andy Rooney: “I've learned.... That money doesn't buy class.” ParaPub.com
- 49. Easy Eddie Chose His Son Over Capone ParaPub.com
- 52. The End of Easy Eddie ParaPub.com
- 53. “Another Tragic Chicago Auto Accident” ParaPub.com
- 54. Easy Eddie was Dead ParaPub.com
- 55. Al Capone was not Happy ParaPub.com
- 56. Capone Died in 1947 ParaPub.com
- 57. O’Hare. Now You Know The Rest of the Story ParaPub.com
- 58. ParaPub.com
- 59. My name is Dan Poynter and I want you to know our history ParaPub.com
- 60. ParaPub.com
Editor's Notes
- (Read slide)Father taught Butch how to shoot. Threw cans in the river.Learned to lead the target. S: WW-2, 90% of the aircraft were downed by 10% of the pilots.Almost all were farm boys. Grew up with rifles and shotguns. Knew how to lead a bird.Called Deflection.
- Japanese Advances Mid-1942Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the first six months of 1942 were dark days for the American public. The Japanese war machine seemed unstoppable with the fall of the Philippines, Burma, Malaysia, and Singapore. The Dutch East Indies and the Solomons would also fall. --Rommel's Afrika Corps were pushing steadily eastward towards the Suez Canal. The German U-boat offensive in the Atlantic was taking a tremendous toll on shipping.--Already the carriers Enterprise and Yorktown had conducted a diversionary raid in the Marshall Islands and it was left to the carrier Lexington to make a diversionary raid several weeks later against Rabaul,Solomon Islands.
- Japanese air attacks had already taken place on Darwin, Australia. The Japanese had landed on New Guinea and with the establishment of a major base in Rabaul in the Solomon Islands, Australia's populous east coast could be within striking range. Australian and NZ men were fighting for the British in Africa. Australia and NZ were barely protected. U.S Troops to Wellington, NZ, etc. for more training. Conflict.
- February 1942. 2 months after Pearl Harbor. A Japanese mini-sub surfaced off Coal Oil Point. $38 in damage. Only place in the continental US shelled by the Japanese in WW-II.My home.
- On Feb. 23, 1942, two-and-a-half months after the, “date which will live in infamy,” Richfield Oil Field near Ellwood Mesa became the site of the first attack on the continental United States by a foreign power since the War of 1812 when a Japanese submarine shelled the beach.Seventy years later, the Goleta Valley Historical Society is commemorating the incident with a special exhibit at its History Education Center, a series of lectures by historian and Ph.D candidate Ken Hough, and a new sign marking the site of the attack near Ellwood beach next to what is now the Bacara Resort.“I get goosebumps talking about it because it’s something that I’ve been looking at for several years now,” Hough said at a dedication ceremony to the new sign.At 7:00 p.m. on the day of the attack, as President Franklin Roosevelt gave what Hough described as his “darkest” fireside chat, a Japanese submarine identified as the I-17 surfaced offshore and began shelling the mainland, firing approximately 25 5-inch rounds and destroying rigging and pumping equipment at a well 1,000 yards inland. A few shells overshot their target and hit farmland further inland.“World War II suddenly became a cold hard reality to people living on the coast,” Hough said.The I-17 had been one of the most advanced submarines made by Japan at the time. Hough said it had been close to the size of a football field and later models had been capable of launching aircraft.“It was a very small scale but it was not a minor attack,” Hough said. “Even though a lot of damage wasn’t apparent right away, a lot of damage was done to the American psyche.”The attack brought the war from some far off islands right to the front door of many U.S. citizens. People began buying “Avenge Ellwood” war bonds to help fund the military. General John L. DeWitt even cited the attack among other incidents when he advocated the internment of Japanese-Americans.Hough said it isn’t certain why Ellwood in particular had been chosen. While it’s believed that the Japanese Navy wanted to prove a hit on the U.S. mainland was possible, the reason for Ellwood is less clear.A popular rumor holds that the submarine’s captain had been a skipper on Japanese tanker and while in the area, he’d fallen on a cactus and decided to get revenge. While it makes for a good story, Hough said his research hasn’t found anything to substantiate that.Hough said the attack began to fade from memory after the Doolittle raid and the Battle of Midway later in the year which ended Japan’s advance across the Pacific.Goleta mayor pro-tem Roger Aceves said he’d grown up with the myth that a two-man submarine had attacked the beach. Without research like Hough’s and efforts by the Historical Society, it’s easy for people to forget just how significant this attack had been. Making sure future generations know about all aspects of Goleta’s history is important for the success of the community.“Remembering the past makes us stronger going into the future,” Aceves said.FYI: The exhibit will be on display until December 30, 2012 at the History Education Center at Rancho La Patera, lectures start on March 11 at 3:00 pm(reservations are required). Rancho La Patera is located at 304 North Los Carneros Road and open Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00pm until 4:00pm and by appointment. For more information contact Goleta Valley Historical Society at 681-7216 or www.goletahistory.org
- My home is in the hills. 400’ elevation. UCSB, SBA Airport.
- Butch graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1937. After serving two years at sea, he went to flight training school. Butch was eventually assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. In December 1941 he was home getting married when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The Saratoga was badly damaged in that attack, so Butch was reassigned to the carrier Lexington.
- On 20 February 1942 the Lexington was steaming 400 miles northeast of Rabaulin the Solomon Islandswhen the Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter squadron was scrambled to intercept a Japanese Kawanshi H6K "Mavis" flying boat.
- Lieutenant Commander John Thach, skipper of the Lexington's Wildcat fighters, shot down the Japanese "Snooper," but not before it had radioed the carrier's position.
- Later that afternoon, a formation of nine Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers approached the carrier at 11,000 feet. Despite the shoot down of four of the bombers by the Lexington's combat air patrols, five of the bombers made a level bombing run against the carrier. Waiting until the bombs had been released before making sharp turns, but the Lexington escaped damage. On that same day, O’Hare’s entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete the mission and get back to his ship. His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.
- As he was returning to the ship he saw something that turned his blood cold: a squadron of Japanese aircraft were speeding their way toward the American fleet. The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn’t reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger.There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet. O'Hare faced 9 twin-engine Japanese bombers alone. Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes.
- --The lanes were the Betty Bomber. They were a land-based bomber.The G4M had a one-way range of about 3,700 miles that was achieved by its structural lightness and an almost total disregard for protection for its crew: it had NO armor plating or self-sealing aviation fuel tanks. These omissions proved to be its weakness when opposition from American fighter aircraft increased during the second half of the war in the Pacific. --One at a time, Butch O'Hare flew at the heavily armed incoming planes, and one at a time, he began killing them off. --In just seconds, the Japanese squadron was in disarray, with Butch sweeping up from below to within 20 or 30 yards of a bomber, then stitching its fuel tanks with machine-gun fire, causing it to explode in flames, then peeling off to attack the next enemy plane from above, opening fire at a range close enough to see terror in the eyes of a Japanese pilot as he gets shot to death.
- Butch’s wing-mounted 50 caliber’s blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired on at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was spent. Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible and rendering them unfit to fly.--Above, a Betty Bomber approaches the carrier USS Lexington (CV-2).The Type 1, missing its port engine (see) after being damaged by an F4F Wildcat piloted by Butch O'Haremay be attempting to attack the carrier. The bomber crashed into the ocean about 1,400 meters short of the Lexington.
- In the space of only four minutes, Butch O'Hare became the first US Navy Flying Ace, saving the Lexington in the process.
- Finally, exasperated, the remaining Japanese planes took off in another direction. Deeply relieved, Butch O’Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. Upon arrival, he reported in and told them what happened. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch’s daring attempt to protect his fleet. O'Hare became an instant hero--he was young, dashing, and became the recruiting poster-boy for Naval aviation.
- Butch O'Hare had used only sixty rounds of ammunition for each bomber he destroyed; an impressive feat of marksmanship.He aimed for the engines.Remember: His father had taught him to shoot. Threw cans into the river. Butch learned to lead his targets. Butch was promoted to Lieutenant Commander
- All told, O'Hare destroyed five of the nine invaders, with three more being downed by Lexington pilots who were able to take off after O'Hare first engaged the bombers.
- Butch O’Hare was the Navy’s first flying Ace.Early in his flying career he was recognized as an exceptional pilot.In 1942 he shot down 5 Japanese Betty Bombers, all at once, on a single sortie. Notice the 5 flags.
- One of the downed Betty Bombers.
- Here is something to think about:If Butch had not shot down the Bettys and made the others abandon their attack on the Lexington,The Lexington could have been lostButch would have lost a lot of friends andhis runway would disappear.
- (Read slide)President Franklin D. Roosevelt realized that the country badly needed a live hero. Butch was summoned to the White House.After all, "Butch" O'Hare was a young, handsome naval aviator who had slugged it out with a superior Japanese force and won.He was the first Naval aviator to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
- In his letter to the Grumman employees he wrote, "You build them, we'll fly them, and between us, we can't be beaten."
- Pilots and crews listened to this flying hero.
- Butch O'Hare's final action took place on the night of 26 November 1943, while he was leading the U.S. Navy's first-ever nighttime fighter attack launched from an aircraft carrier. O'Hare took up one of the Hellcats along with the radar-equipped Avenger, and a second Hellcat to patrol the dark skies over the Enterprise. With some initial difficulties getting the formation coordinated in he dark, and with incoming bombers detected on radar, Butch O'Hare's Hellcat would slide out of the formation that night and disappear.
- His aircraft was never found. It had been thought for years that he had gotten caught in the crossfire between the Avenger's gunner and Betty bomber and was hit inadvertently by the Avenger's gunner. However, later reviews suggested that O'Hare most likely had been downed by a lucky shot from a Betty gunner. Though initially declared missing in action, he was declared dead a year later.
- In 1945, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS O'Hare (DDR-889) was named in his honor.
- The story of Butch O’Hare does not end with his death. There’s more.
- In 1942, the War Production Board purchased a plot of undeveloped Cook County prairie land called Orchard Place. The 1,790 acres of flatland was well suited for a huge airplane factory the government needed for the production of military aircraft, specifically Douglas C-54s, during World War II.The field was near Chicago, good transportation and a population center for labor.During the war, the airport was known as Orchard Place/Douglas Field--The three letter code wasORD.BTW, airports are rarely re-designated. DEN/DIA. Orlando is MCO for McCoy AFB
- After the Second World War, the city of Chicago bought the facility from the United States government and converted it into a commercial airport, Chicago Orchard Field, opened in 1946.In 1949, Orchard Field was renamed O'Hare International Airport in Butch’s honor. The ORD was retained.
- Concourse B at ORD
- The Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat on display was recovered virtually intact from the bottom of Lake Michigan, where it sank after a training accident in 1943 when it went off the training aircraft carrier USS Wolverine (IX-64). The Air Classics Museum restored the aircraft in 2001 to look like the exact plane that Butch O'Hare flew.”
- Point to display.Explain map. Between main and commuter concourses. When you connect in Chicago, see the display andremember where the airport got its 3-character designation ORD: from Orchard Depot Field.And remember where it later got its name: O’Hare.
- Visit the display, read about Butch O’Hare and appreciate his contribution to aviation.
- I pass by the exhibit often.BTY, I fly some 6,000 miles every week. UA stockholder. Highest standing with UA. 35% of the year outside the UA.I address audiences worldwide. PIA is the ONLY audience that does not pay me. . I am available to share a program with your group.
- Again, the story of Butch O’Hare does not end here. There’s more.
- (Read slide)Butch’s father practiced law in St Louis and then moved to Chicago-- and found a job. What kind of job?
- He wanted to stay in the dog-racing business. Needed gang protection.O'Hare became a partner with Al Capone.EJ was nicknamed "Easy Eddie".
- But what turned the sport into the money-generating scam, for Al Capone and "EJ" O'Hare, were thatDog racing was unregulated at the time and if you give each of seven dogs a pound of hamburger a few minutes before a race, it's a cinch that the eighth, unfed dog would win the race. Both Easy Eddie and Al Capone made enormous profits.
- "EJ" performed a variety of legal services for Scarface Al and various members of the Capone Mob.
- "EJ", as a lawyer, was always right around the edges of the ever-present political fix. He looked after the arrests that the assorted Capone guys were charged. He developed both a friendship and a real estate partnership with a Chicago Judge named Eugene J. Holland. In one 15-month period, Judge Holland dismissed gambling charges against 12,624 defendants, while finding only 28 guilty.
- Al Capone virtually owned Chicago. Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic.
- Capone was notorious for enmeshing the Windy City in everything from bootlegged booze, gambling, to prostitution, and murder.
- To show his appreciation, Capone paid Eddie very well. Not only was the money big, but also, Eddie got special dividends.
- For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help, and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.
- Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.
- Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son - he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example.
- Eddie realized thatMoney doesn’t buy class.
- 1930. One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Offering his son a good name was far more important than all the riches he could lavish on him. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity.--To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost could be great.But more than anything, he wanted to be an example to his son. He wanted to do his best to make restoration and hopefully have a good name to leave his son.
- In 1931 Eddie testified. Some have said that Eddie became an informant because of a change of heart and a desire to go straight. Others have said it was merely his way of saving his neck in the face of potential prosecution and getting his son into Annapolis.
- Al Capone was finally convicted. On October 17, 1931.Capone went to prison
- November 8, 1939. As "EJ" O'Hare approached the intersection of Ogden and Rockwell, a car roared up beside him and a shotgun-wielding murderer opened fire with repeated blasts of big game slugs. The slugs tore through the glass and metal of the Lincoln's door, killing "EJ" O'Hare instantly.
- The Lincoln crashed into a post at the side of the roadway. The killers continued east on Ogden, where they soon became lost in other traffic. As might be expected, they were never found.“Another tragic Chicago Auto Accident”
- Police removed from Easy Eddie’s pockets: a rosary, crucifix, and a religious medallion.
- Easy Edie was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery.Al Capone was not happy.
- Caponewas released from prison in November of 1939. About the same time Easy Eddie was killed. Capone died on January 25, 1947, in his Palm Island, Florida, mansion from complications of syphilis.
- Now you know all three parts of the Butch O’Hare story.(Remove glasses.)
- A flying Ace, the Medal of Honor, airport, and a ship named after him, and a very nice guy.Butch O’Hare was a true aviation hero.