KEARBY, NEEL E. (1911-1944). Neel E. Kearby, Medal of Honor recipient, was born in 1911 in Wichita Falls, Texas, the son of Dr. and Mrs. J. G. Kearby of Dallas. He graduated in 1936 from the University of Texas and received his flight training at Randolph and Kelly Air Force basesqqv in San Antonio. On October 11, 1943, Colonel Kearby volunteered to lead a flight of four fighters to reconnoiter the strongly held enemy bases at Wewak, New Guinea. After securing important tactical information on four enemy installations, he saw an enemy fighter below. He made an attack and shot it down. His small flight then saw twelve enemy bombers escorted by thirty-six fighter aircraft. With numerical odds of twelve to one and low fuel supplies he led his flight on a diving attack. He shot down three planes, then observed one of his comrades with two of the enemy fighters in pursuit. He attacked and destroyed both, then escaped into the clouds. After calling his flight back together he led them safely to a friendly base. Kearby had destroyed six enemy aircraft on one mission, the most ever for an American fighter pilot up to that time. It was for this mission that he was awarded the Medal of Honor, presented in a special ceremony by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Kearby was transferred to a staff job but requested and received permission to continue flying combat missions. He had just claimed his twenty-second victory, when he was shot down on March 4, 1944, over Wewak, New Guinea. Kearby was reported missing in action, but by 1979 his body had not been recovered. His grave in Dallas is marked with a Medal of Honor headstone. Kearby was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with three oak leaf clusters and more than a dozen other medals. A missile facility at Sheppard Air Force Baseqv was named in his honor in November 1959. His medals are on display in the museum at Kelly AFB. At the time of his death he was married to Virginia Cochran Kearby and was the father of three children. All of his children have died in aircraft.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dallas Morning News, November 12, 1959. Committee on Veterans' Affairs, United States Senate, Medal of Honor Recipients, 1863-1973 (Washington: GPO, 1973). Robert Hucker, "Neel Kearby, Thunderbolt Ace," Air Classics, July 1979. San Antonio Express, March 16, 1944.
Art Leatherwood
