SIMPSON B. HOLLABAUGH, 1LT AAC (Army Air Corps)

Simpson Buchanan Hollabaugh was born on 27Feb1920 in Marshall, Searcy County, Arkansas; died Townsville, Australia, on 29Nov1942, age ~23. He was the youngest of 10 children born to Theodosia Albertine (Allie) Sanders and Shem Easely Hollabaugh. Siblings (oldest first): Gladys, Ernest, Ralph, Elizabeth, Ziff, Wilbur, Everett, Marcus, Genevieve and Simpson. Ralph and Everett died ~3. All grew up on a truck farm, and Shem also owned and operated the Mercantile Store '1898' on the Marshall "Square" for more than 25 years. Shem was also active in the Arkansas Legislature in 1908, 1919, and 1931.

Lieutenant Hollabaugh was President and Valedictorian of the 1937 Marshall High School graduating class. He then attended Arkansas Tech where he was Editor of the college yearbook and President of the History Club. Hollabaugh then entered George Washington University in 1940 and was a Feature Writer for the George Washington "Hatchet". He then entered the Army in Oct1941, and received his AAC Commission on 6Sep1942, when he went to war. He was never married.

Lieutenant Hollabaugh was trained as a single seat fighter pilot and assigned to fly the Lockheed P-38 (single pilot, twin-engine aircraft; fastest US fighter at the time) and was ordered to the Pacific Theater 1Dec1942, where he participated in more than 50 operational flights over Japanese territory. As best is known, one of his plane's engines caught fire shortly after take-off on another mission from his base in Brisbane, Australia, and he was extensively burned while returning and landing the plane. He died in a Brisbane Hospital a few days later. His body was shipped home on the SS Cardinal O'Connell after the war and his reburial held in Marshall, circa 1953.

He was awarded the Air Medal for his service.