UT Austin Graduate Earned Congressional Medal of Honor

Col. Neel Earnest Kearby

A few years ago, I built a model of one of Colonel Neel Kearby's P-47D Thunderbolts.  The model is a 1/48 scale kit produced by Hasegawa and required corrections as well as backdating to replicate the  P-47D-2.  The model represents serial number 42-8145 and is the aircraft in which Kearby earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for downing six Japanese aircraft during one sortie on October 11, 1943.  One of my favorite steps in any model project is doing the research to determine exact colors and markings for the aircraft, as well as finding information about the pilot who flew it.    

Colonel Kearby commanded the 348th Fighter Group as part of General George Kenny's 5th Air Force.  The unit was based on the north coast of New Guinea and introduced the P-47 to combat in the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations.  Neel Kearby left the 348th Fighter Group in November 1943 to assume a position with the 5th Air Force Fighter Command staff.  He was often allowed to sneak away from his staff duties and continued to fly combat missions with his old group.  Kearby was credited with 22 confirmed Japanese aircraft shot down while in command of and while subsequently attached to the 348th Fighter Group.  This not only made him the top ace of this group, but also one of his nation's top aces.

He was awarded 5 Air Medals, 4 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 2 Silver Stars, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and the Purple Heart.  Kearby was listed as MIA after an air combat near Wewak (Dagua) New Guinea on 5 March 1944.  His remains were found after the war by an Australian recovery team and ultimately returned to the States.  He is buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Dallas.  Components of the aircraft he flew on his final mission were recovered from its crash site near Dagua during the mid 1990s and presented to the Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton Ohio.  Several of these including the vertical tail and a .50 caliber machine gun are on display at the museum.   

Kearby's historical marker at HMP

Tail of Kearby's P-47 at Dayton

This might have been the end of the story until I was going through my old copy of Stars & Bars by Frank Olynyk and noticed the biography for Kearby stated that he graduated from the University of Texas and was awarded a bachelors degree in business administration in 1937.

I am a Longhorn alumnus (Class of 87) and still live in Austin.  I hadn't realized that our community had a connection with one of America's top aces.  I made a call to the UT Registrars Office to see if this was true.  They were kind enough to go into the old records and were able to verify that Neel Earnest Kearby had indeed attended UT and was awarded his BBA on 7 June 1937.

I hadn't remembered seeing a memorial to Kearby when I attended UT in the 1980's.  I inquired at the school to see if this was the case or that maybe I'd missed it.  The UT representative confirmed that currently there isn't a permanent memorial to Kearby on campus, but that he had been recognized as a distinguished alumnus prior to a football game and in an alumni newsletter.  There has apparently been some tentative talk about creating a memorial on campus but nothing concrete.  I for one would like to see this happen, and probably in conjunction with the other three CMH winners who attended the school.   

Kearby with his P-47