Last Surviving WWII Ace Is Dead at 103

A World War II veteran from Nebraska believed to be America's last surviving "ace" pilot because he shot down five enemy planes has died. He was 103. Donald McPherson served as a Navy fighter pilot aboard the aircraft carrier USS Essex in the Pacific theater, where he engaged Japanese forces during the final years of the war. He earned the Congressional Gold Medal and three Distinguished Flying Crosses, the AP reports. Beth Delabar said her father would prefer to be remembered for his dedication to faith, family, and community. "It hasn't been till these later years in his life that he's had so many honors and medals," she told the Beatrice Daily Sun.

McPherson was listed as the war's last living US ace by the American Fighter Aces Association and the Fagen Fighters WWII Museum, and he was honored at the museum last weekend in Minnesota. To be considered an ace, a pilot has to shoot down five or more enemy planes. McPherson enlisted in the Navy in 1942 at age 18. He flew F6F Hellcat fighters against the Japanese as part of fighter squadron VF-83. He recounted one mission on which he shot down two planes after he noticed them low near the water on a converging course. In a video the Fagen museum played in his honor, McPherson said his fire sent the first pilot into the ocean and caused the second plane to explode.

When he returned to the aircraft carrier, a sailor pointed out a bullet hole in the plane about a foot behind where McPherson sat. His daughter Donna Mulder said her father told her that experiences like that during the war gave him the sense that "Maybe God is not done with me." So after he returned home to the family farm in Adams, Nebraska, he dedicated himself to giving back by helping start baseball and softball leagues for the kids in town and serving as a Scoutmaster and in leadership roles in the Adams United Methodist Church, American Legion, and Veterans of Foreign Wars. The community later named the ballfield McPherson Field in honor of Donald and his wife, Thelma, who kept score during games and ran the concession stand.