A Forgotten WWII Hero: Don Urquhart

I am only vaguely familiar with Don, and that familiarity is because of my father. Don was a friend and classmate of my Dad, and he likely was the closest friend of my Dad who didn’t survive World War II. Don, Fritz Pflughoeft, Dick Musselman and my Dad were good enough buddies that they took a three week trip together “Out East” the summer after Don, Dick and Dad graduated from high school. They went to Washington, DC, worked their way north to the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City, and then headed for the Finger Lakes of Upstate New York and Niagara Falls before heading home. That was quite a trip in those days and even more so in a 1928 Chevrolet.

Don was born in 1921 in Medford and was the grandson of early Medford residents. He was a good student and a high school athlete. He was the starting center on a football team that only lost one game his senior year. After high school graduation, he enrolled in the University Of Wisconsin School Of Engineering. Don spent two years there. Shortly after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Army Air Force. He earned his wings in 1942 and graduated as a bomber pilot after 30 weeks of intensive training. He became a dive-bomber on a one-person fighter-bomber plane in which he was both the pilot and the gunner. He flew with the 12th Air Force in North Africa, Sicily & Italy, primarily fighting the Germans. Don was killed in an airplane crash in the Corsica area (south of France) in the Mediterranean on July 20, 1944. He was an Air Force Captain at the time of his crash and had completed 77 successful missions flying the Mustang, War Hawk and Thunderbolt planes. He flew 57 of those missions in a plane called “Old Eagle Eye.” He was a squadron leader and operations officer at the time of his death. He had earned a Presidential Unit Citation, Air Medal with Five Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross. His remains were finally returned home four years later. His funeral took place in August of 1948 and he was interred in the local Evergreen Cemetery.

It is interesting to note that in Don’s 1939 high school yearbook, his nickname was listed as “Gunner.” That was at least 3 years before he joined the service. How prophetic that nickname was! Don obviously had a character and charisma that served him and his country well during World War II. We can only guess what Don’s life would have been like had he survived the war.

— Dave Klinner, Medford