World War II Chronicle: July 5, 1942
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Last week we mentioned the first U.S. strike on Europe, and the front page has more on the Eighth Air Force’s mission. Capt. Charles Kegelman earned the Distinguished Service Cross for bringing a crippled bomber back from Nazi-occupied Holland and his citation can be read here…
Kegelman will perish over the Philippines in 1945… Also on the front page is a report that the American Volunteer Group — the famed “Flying Tigers” — has been disbanded and replaced by the Army Air Force’s 23rd Pursuit Group. Some Flying Tigers transferred to the new unit, others extended their contracts to train new members, while others returned to the United States…
Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, one of the more famous Tigers, broke his AVG contract and returned to the States back in April. He will accept a commission in the Marine Corps in September… Brig. Gen. Claire Chennault, the former commander of the AVG, now heads the China Air Task Force. This outfit will become the Fourteenth Air Force in 1943… Chennault’s son John, an Army Air Force captain, commands a fighter squadron that is targeting Japanese forces in the Aleutians. All all of Chennault’s sons served either in the Armed Forces or the defense industry — Robert and David join the Navy while Claire and Charles join the Army Air Force…
George Fielding Eliot column on page five… War’s 148th week is summarized on page 24… Sports section begins on page 30
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 5 July 1942. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1942-07-05/ed-1/