Harold Huston George

Name:

Country:

United States

Rank:

Lieutenant

Service:

United States Air Service

Units:

139^th Aero

Victories:

Born:

14 September 1892

Place of Birth:

Lockport, New York, USA

Died:

30 April 1942

Place of Death:

Darwin, Australia

Cemetery:

Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, USA
Section 9 Site 5952

From Niagra Falls, New York, Harold Huston George, the brother of William F. George of Brooklyn, New York, joined the New York national guard in 1916 during the Mexican border crisis. In 1917 he transferred to the United States Signal Corps. A SPAD XIII pilot, he shot down five Fokker D.VIIs in 1918 while serving with the 139th Aero Squadron on the Western Front. During World War II, George commanded the 31st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field, Michigan before he was assigned to the Phillipines on 3 March 1941. He was promoted to Brigadier General in January 1942 and commanded the air force during the Philippines campaign, accompanying General Douglas McArthur from Bataan to Australia. George was critically injured in a plane crash on 29 April 1942. He died the following day, at age 48, and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for "exceptionally meritorious service to the government in a position of great responsibility." In June 1950, George Air Force Base, near Victorville, California, was named in his honor.

Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Harold Huston George, First Lieutenant (Air Service), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Bantheville, France, October 27, 1918. Lieutenant George displayed great courage in attacking a formation of four enemy planes (Fokker type), destroying two of them in a terrific fight and driving the other two back to their own territory.

General Orders No. 46, W.D., 1919

Victories

	Date	Time	Unit	Aircraft	Opponent	Location
1	27 Oct 1918	1525	139^th	SPAD XIII	Fokker D.VII	Bantheville
2	27 Oct 1918	1535	139^th	SPAD XIII	Fokker D.VII ¹	Bantheville
3	29 Oct 1918	1520	139^th	SPAD XIII	Fokker D.VII ²	Damvillers
4	29 Oct 1918	1520	139^th	SPAD XIII	Fokker D.VII ²	Damvillers
5	05 Nov 1918	1000	139^th	SPAD XIII	Fokker D.VII ³	Brandeville

1	Shared with Lt Robert Lindsay
2	Shared with Lt Karl Schoen, Lt Edward Haight
3	Shared with Lt T Ash, Lt J J Quinn

Books

American Aces of World War 1: by Norman Franks, Harry Dempsey (Illustrator) / Paperback / Osprey Publishing (September 25, 2001)
Over the Front: by Norman L. R. Franks, Frank W. Bailey / Hardcover / Grub Street the Basement (May 1992)

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