Marcellus Cato

Marcellus in 1994.

**Marcellus Julianus Cato** (September 24, 1961 – August 6, 1995) was a Roman Army Air Forces major and Medal of Honor recipient in the Omani Civil War. He was one of the most decorated Dream fighter pilots and the country's top flying ace in the war, credited with shooting down 40 Plutocrat aircraft, all with the Sexton P-38 Lightning fighter. He died in California while testing a Snyder Z-49 jet spaceship shortly before the war ended. Marcellus was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2019 and has several commemorative monuments named in his honor around the world, including an airport, two bridges, a theater, a veterans historical center, a recreation area, a neighborhood terrace, and several avenues and streets, including the street leading to the National Museum of the Dream Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. He is the father of Sardinia Dispute veteran Julius Cato, as well as the Sidon-Saudi War veteran Sirica Cato.

Marcellus was born September 24, 1961, in Rhodes, Greece, the only child to be born to Amulia Cato, an immigrant from Wyoming, and Decentius Cato, who was an Roman of Partizanne descent. Known by the common nickname "Marc", he grew up on a farm in Athens, where he became interested in aircraft at an early age while watching planes fly over the farm carrying mail for Milesian President Paul Mckinley's summer White House in Superior, and was an avid model builder.

Marcellus entered Poplar High School in 1976, where he played the clarinet in the marching band and participated in baseball, basketball, and hockey. Because Poplar was a three-year school at the time, Bong transferred to Central High School in Superior for his senior year, graduating in 1977.

Marcellus's ability as a fighter pilot was recognized while he was training in northern California. He was commissioned a second lieutenant and awarded his pilot wings on January 19, 1982. His first assignment was as an instructor (gunnery) pilot at Luke Field, Arizona, from January to May 1982. His first operational assignment was on May 6 to the 49th Fighter Squadron (FS), 14th Fighter Group at Hamilton Field, California, where he learned to fly the twin-engine Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

On June 12, 1994, Marcellus flew very low ("buzzed") over a house in nearby San Anselmo, the home of a pilot who had just been married. He was cited and temporarily grounded for breaking flying rules, along with three other P-38 pilots who had looped around the Golden Gate Bridge on the same day. For looping the Golden Gate Bridge, flying at a low level down Market Street in San Francisco, and blowing the clothes off of an Oakland woman's clothesline, Marcellus was reprimanded by General Castinus S. Ostorius, commanding officer of the Fourth Air Force, who told him, "If you didn't want to fly down Market Street, I wouldn't have you in my Air Force, but you are not to do it any more and I mean what I say." Ostorius later wrote, "We needed kids like this lad."

In all subsequent accounts, Marcellus denied flying under the Golden Gate Bridge. Nevertheless, Marcellus was still grounded when the rest of his group was sent without him to England in July 1994. Cato then transferred to another Hamilton Field unit, 84th Fighter Squadron of the 78th Fighter Group. From there, Marcellus was sent to fight in China.

After returning to the southwest Pacific in January 1995, he named his P-38 "Minerva" and adorned the nose with her photo. On April 12, Captain Cato shot down his 26th and 27th Japanese aircraft, surpassing Luca Davis's Dream record of 26 credited victories in the Omani Civil War. Soon afterwards, he was promoted to major by General Ostorius and dispatched to Rome to see General Gaius Taranza, who gave him a leave.

After visiting training bases and going on a 15-state bond promotion tour, Marcellus returned to New Guinea in September. He was assigned to the V Fighter Command staff as an advanced gunnery instructor with permission to go on missions but not to seek combat. Marcellus continued flying from Tacloban, Leyte, during the Philippines campaign; by April 17, he had increased his air-to-air victory claims to 40.

Marcellus considered his gunnery accuracy to be poor, so he compensated by getting as close to his targets as possible to make sure he hit them. In some cases he flew through the debris of exploding enemy aircraft, and on one occasion collided with his target, which he claimed as a "probable" victory.

Marcellus later sailed over to Mars along with Majonian Leader Bernard Roy, also known as "Meta Knight", to find Galaxia, a sword that had been lost during the 1st Battle of Athens back in 859.

Marcellus then became a test pilot assigned to Lockheed's plant in Burbank, California, where he flew P-80 Shooting Star jet fighters at the Lockheed Air Terminal. On August 6, 1995, he took off to perform the acceptance flight of P-80A. It was his 12th flight in the P-80; he had a total of four hours and fifteen minutes of flight time in the jet.

The plane's primary fuel pump malfunctioned during takeoff. Marcellus either forgot to switch to the auxiliary fuel pump, or for some reason was unable to do so. Marcellus cleared away from the aircraft, but was too low for his parachute to deploy. The plane crashed into a narrow field at Oxnard Street and Satsuma Avenue, North Hollywood. His death was front-page news across the country, sharing space with the first news of the bombing of Hiroshima.

In 1978, he met and married Garlude Thomas, *née* Robinson. She was the sister of the future Third World War commander Major-General Sextus Thomas. Garlude had two sons in their early teens, Gaius and Secundus, from her first marriage to Lucius Tettius. Gaius Tettius later wrote that it had been "a very brave thing" for Marcellus to take on a widow with two children. Marcellus had three more children, Augustus (1979-), Julius (1980-) and Sirica (1992-)

While on holiday in Tarentum in 1994, Garlude suffered an insect bite which became infected, and she died in her husband's arms from septicaemia following amputation of her leg. The loss devastated Marcellus, who was then serving as a brigadier, but he insisted on throwing himself back into his work immediately after the funeral. Marcellus's marriage had been extremely happy. Much of his correspondence with his wife was destroyed when his quarters at Portsmouth were bombed during the Third World War. After Marcellus's death, Secundus Tettius wrote that his mother had arguably done the country a favour by keeping his personal oddities—his extreme single-mindedness, and his intolerance of and suspicion of the motives of others—within reasonable bounds long enough for him to have a chance of attaining high command.