November 26, 1943: Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry "Butch" O’Hare, U.S. Navy, is shot down in his F6F Hellcat, near the Gilbert Islands, now part of the Republic of Kiribati. He was 29 years old.
He was born on March 13, 1914 in St. Louis. He moved with his father to Chicago, where his father, a lawyer, worked with Al Capone, before turning against him and helping the government convict him of tax evasion. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy, and graduated in 1937.
He was the 1st U.S. Navy man in World War II to reach "flying ace" status, shooting down 5 enemy aircraft, and the first Navy man in that war to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was also awarded the Navy Cross and 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses.
On September 19, 1949, the Chicago-area Orchard Field Airport was renamed O'Hare International Airport. (The "Orchard" name survives in its airport code, "ORD.") A model of the Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat he'd previously flown is on display in Terminal 2 of that airport. It surpassed Midway Airport as the most important in the city in the 1950s, because it could handle the new jet aircraft, and Midway couldn't. It remains the Midwest's most important airline hub.
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November 26, 1943 was a Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Television producer Bruce Paltrow was born. He created the TV shows The White Shadow and St. Elsewhere, and married actress Blythe Danner. Their daughter is actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek: The NFL didn't play for another 2 days, and, while there were college games the day before (Thanksgiving) and the day after. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL had no games scheduled. So there were no scores on this historic day.
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