1920 - 1945
This Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter, through the efforts of General George C. Kenney, was donated by the United States Air Force in memory of Major Richard I. Bong. Major Bong a native of Poplar, was credited with destroying 40 Japanese aircraft in aerial combat and earned the title of "America's Ace of Aces" while flying P-38s in the Southwest Pacific during World War II. In December 1944 Major Bong was awarded the nations highest award the Congressional Medal of Honor for his exploits. General Douglas MacArthur cited the young Wisconsin ace as entering the "society of the bravest of the brave." On August 6, 1945 Major Bong was killed while testing a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet.| HM Number | HMT5L |
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| Series | This marker is part of the Medal of Honor Recipients series |
| Tags | |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Wednesday, September 10th, 2014 at 11:05am PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 15T E 592145 N 5159649 |
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| Decimal Degrees | 46.58408333, -91.79726667 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 46° 35.045', W 91° 47.836' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 46° 35' 2.70" N, 91° 47' 50.16" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 715 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 1001-1099 Park Rd, Poplar WI 54864, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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