A great American, Senator George McGovern, died at 5:15
a.m. local time Sunday at a Sioux Falls hospice surrounded by family and
lifelong friends according to family spokesman Steve Hildebrand.
Senator McGovern was 90.
A decorated World War II bomber pilot, Citizen McGovern
said he learned to hate war by waging it.
George Stanley McGovern was born on July 19, 1922, in the
small farm town of Avon, South Dakota, the son of a Methodist pastor. He was
raised in Mitchell, shy and quiet until he was recruited for the high school
debate team and found his niche. He enrolled at Dakota Wesleyan University in
his hometown and, already a private pilot, volunteered for the Army Air Force
soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Army didn't have enough airfields or training planes
to take him until 1943. He married his wife, Eleanor Stegeberg, and arrived in
Italy the next year. That would be his base for the 35 missions he flew in the
B-24 Liberator christened the "Dakota Queen" after his new bride.
In a December 1944 bombing raid on the Czech city of
Pilsen, McGovern's plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire that disabled one engine
and set fire to another. He nursed the B-24 back to a British airfield on an
island in the Adriatic Sea, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross.
On his final mission, his plane was hit several times,
but he managed to get it back safety - one of the actions for which he received
the Air Medal.
Rest in Peace, Senator... Rest in Peace, Citizen.
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