Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O'Hare
Ewing and Lundstrom's excellent biography of the navy-pilot namesake of Chicago's principal airport also betrays that the coauthors were utterly charmed by their subject. As they depict him, O'Hare was a singularly attractive and capable man. The son of a Chicago businessman murdered for informing on Capone, he graduated from Annapolis in 1937 and was already a seasoned fighter pilot by the time the U.S. entered World War II. He won the Medal of Honor in 1942 by single-handedly breaking up a Japanese bomber attack on the carrierLexington. After a short period of training duty ashore, he returned to combat. He died in action late in 1943, while engaged in the first successful carrier-based night interception. O'Hare fits no stereotype ("real" fighter aces are not supposed to have lifelong weight problems; he did) and seems to have lived "above and beyond the call of duty." He has long deserved a comprehensive and accurate biography: here it is.Roland Green