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SSgt Michael Frederick
to remember
Marine Capt Donald Nathan Aldrich.
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Contact Info
Home Town Chicago
Last Address Chicago
Date of Passing Mar 04, 1947
Location of Interment Oak Woods Cemetery - Chicago, Illinois
Served in the Royal Canadian Air Force 1940-1941.
Entered USMCR when Congress allowed married men to serve in the US Military after Pearl Harbor.
Captain Aldrich did three tours in the Pacific Theater in 1943-1944. During the first tour, he shot down seven Zeroes, the second he saw none, the third he shot down thirteen, including four in a single day, for a total of twenty confirmed victories. He returned to the States a hero, received a ticker tape parade, and went on a tour to sell war bonds. He was Chicago's top Ace, and the fifth highest scoring Ace in the history of the Marine Corps.
Early in the morning of March 4th, 1947, Captain Aldrich was flying home to Chicago in an F-4U Corsair bearing the markings EA-25. He attempted to land at Ashburn Field, just two miles south of Chicago Midway, when the engine in his Corsair failed. Unknown to the Captain, the runway was closed due to muddy conditions. His Corsair's main landing gear sunk into a soft spot. The plane flipped on it's back, the tail section was torn off and flung 100 yards away. Captain Aldrich was killed instantly due to a crushed chest and broken neck.
He was buried with honors at Chicago's Oak Woods cemetary. He is survived by his widow, Marjorie Aldrich, and his son Frederick.
Other Comments:
Shot down 20 Japanese planes while serving with VMF-215 as an F4U Corsair pilot. Don Aldrich had been turned down by recruiters before Pearl Harbor because he was married. Like many other eager young men of his generation, he went across the Canadian border and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in February 1941. He got his wings that November. But the RCAF put the new aviator to work as an instructor. When the U.S. entered the war, Aldrich had no trouble rejoining his countrymen, and eventually got his wings of gold as a Marine aviator, following which, he headed for the Solomons. From August 1943 to February 1944, in three combat tours, Captain Aldrich gained an impressive number of kills, 20. Although he survived the war, he died in an operational accident in 1947.
Northern Solomon Islands Campaign (1943-44)/Battle of Bougainville
From Month/Year
November / 1943
To Month/Year
January / 1944
Description After New Georgia, the next major operation was an invasion of the island of Bougainville, which was approached by landings at Mono and Stirling in the Treasury Islands on October 25-27, 1943. A Marine division landed on the west coast of Bougainville at Empress Augusta Bay on November 1, 1943. The Marines were followed within the month by an Army division and replaced in the next month by another Army division.
It was late November before the beachhead at Empress Augusta Bay was secure. This beachhead was all that was needed, and no attempt was made to capture the entire island. Allied planes neutralized enemy airfields in the northern part of the island, and the Allied command made use of its naval and air superiority to contain the Japanese garrison on Bougainville and cut its supply line to Rabaul by occupying the Green Islands (February 14, 1944).
Despite these measures, the Japanese maintained pressure against the beachhead, mounting an especially heavy but unsuccessful counterattack as late as March 1944. Success at Bougainville isolated all Japanese forces left in the Solomons. The Japanese sustained comparatively heavy air and naval losses during the campaign, which further crippled the Japanese Combined Fleet and had a vital effect on the balance of naval power in the Central Pacific.
