Bomber pilot is only FD man to earn the Medal of Honor
Capt. Darrell Lindsey went down with his plane; air station, street were named in his honorBy BILL SHEA, Messenger staff writer
Article Photos
In the months before Darrell Lindsey graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High School in 1938, Adolf Hitler's Nazi legions gobbled up Austria and Czechoslovakia, prompting Europeans to fear their turn might be next.
Those disturbing events seemed too far away to affect the young man whom classmates remembered as an all-around nice guy.
But six years later, Lindsey gave his life to help defeat the Nazis.
He stayed at the controls of a flaming bomber in the air over occupied France, keeping the plane steady so his crew could escape. The plane crashed with Lindsey still aboard.
In 1945, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Lindsey is the only person from Fort Dodge to receive the nation's highest award for military bravery.
''I think he was a true American hero,'' said Dr. Bruce Rhinehart, of Garden Grove, Calif.
Rhinehart, a Storm Lake native, went to Buena Vista College (today's Buena Vista University) with Lindsey. In 1946, he married Lindsey's widow, Evalyn.
She died in 1992. Since Lindsey had no close living relatives, Rhinehart became a kind of guardian of the fallen pilot's memory. He feels Lindsey should get more recognition locally, but he acknowledged the memory of World War II ''diminishes year by year.''
There are a few memorials to Lindsey in the area. His portrait and a copy of his Medal of Honor citation are on display in the Fort Museum and Frontier Village in Fort Dodge.
In Jefferson, Lindsey's birthplace, there is a granite marker in front of the Greene County Courthouse which once was at Lindsey Air Station in Germany. And although his body was never found, a bronze military headstone bearing his name is in the family plot at Jefferson Cemetery.
Lindsey's early years
Lindsey was born on Dec. 30, 1919, in Jefferson, the son of Jess and Grace Lindsey. The family moved to Fort Dodge just in time for his senior year of high school.
At that time the high school was in the building at 1015 Fifth Ave. N., which is today's Phillips Middle School.
Del Porter, of Fort Dodge, was also in the class of 1938. He recalled that Lindsey didn't have many friends because he had only been in town for about a year. Porter said the future pilot was a ''very, very nice guy.''
Lois Ahrens, of Fort Dodge, also graduated with Lindsey.
''He was just very active,'' she said. ''He was a cute guy and full of pizzazz.''
After high school, he attended Buena Vista College in Storm Lake for one year. Then he transferred to Drake University in Des Moines.
He enlisted in the Army Air Force on Jan. 16, 1942, a little more than a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Lindsey completed flight training at a succession of bases in California and New Mexico. After earning his pilot's wings, he was stationed at bases in Florida and Michigan.
In February1944, he was dispatched to Europe.
Lindsey in combat
The pilot was promoted to captain and assigned to the 585th Bombardment Squadron, part of the 394th Bombardment Group. He flew his first combat mission on March 23, 1944.
His 46th and final mission came on Aug. 9, 1944. The target that day was the L'Isle Adam railroad bridge over the Seine River northeast of Paris. American commanders wanted the bridge destroyed so the Germans couldn't use it to move troops toward the Allied armies advancing across France. Lindsey led the mission, flying a B-26 Marauder two-engine bomber.
As the flight of 30 bombers approached the bridge, the Germans opened fire with several anti-aircraft guns. The right engine of Lindsey's plane was hit. The blast knocked the plane out of the formation and set the engine on fire.
Lindsey got the plane under control and maneuvered back into the lead position even as the flames began spreading across the right wing. After the bombs were successfully dropped on the bridge, Lindsey ordered the crew members to bail out. He didn't follow them.
The Medal of Honor citation at the Fort Museum and Frontier Village describes what happened next.
''With magnificent coolness and superb pilotage, and without regard for his own life, he held the swiftly descending airplane in a steady glide until the members of the crew could jump to safety,'' the document states.
Just after the last crew member bailed out, one of the plane's fuel tanks exploded. The whole plane was engulfed in flames and plunged to the ground.
Three of his crew members who made it back to Allied lines described Lindsey's heroics.
The Medal of Honor was presented to Evalyn Lindsey during an Aug. 9, 1945, ceremony at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Dodge. At the time, the church was located at First Avenue South and Eighth Street.
Later, an Air Force facility in Wiesbaden, Germany, was named Lindsey Air Station in honor of the pilot. A street at the now closed Kincheloe Air Force Base in Michigan was also named after him.
A photo of Lindsey is displayed at the Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Liege, Belgium. Porter, who is a World War II veteran, found that photo by accident during a 1999 visit.
''I just couldn't believe it, '' Porter said, recalling the surprise of finding the pilot's photo.
He also found Lindsey's name engraved in gold letters on a wall of a building at the cemetery in Belgium.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net
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CommonSense
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11-11-08 10:08 AM
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WOW! Great Story. True American heroes seldom get the respect and recognition they deserve. Of course, even if they did, they seldom want it or think they deserve it. Thank you all servicemen and women past and present for what you do.
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