James B. McGovern, Jr.
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces

James B. McGovern, Jr. was born on 4 February 1922 in Elizabeth, NJ.

The nickname Earthquake McGoon was given to McGovern in World War II because the first four letters of his last name matched the malapropism (McGovern←→McGoon), and his physical size was considered large for a fighter pilot. The name refers to a character in the Li'l Abner comic strip.

McGovern served in China in 1944 as part of the 14th Air Force's 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group. The 118th was known for its "Black Lightning" markings on its P-51s that have been carried forward to the C-21s that they fly today as the 118th Airlift Squadron. During this time he was credited with shooting down four Japanese Zero fighters, and destroying another five on the ground. Before that, he had damaged or destroyed at least 10 Japanese warplanes as one of the "Flying Tigers."

After the war McGovern flew covert missions over Vietnam as a civilian for the CIA-owned Civil Air Transport, which aided the French in their fight against the communists. McGovern and his co-pilot, Wallace Buford, were the only Americans to die in combat in the First Indochina War; seven years before the U.S.' official entry in the Vietnam War. McGovern and Buford died in a plane crash on 6 May 1954 when their C-119 Flying Boxcar cargo plane was hit by ground fire while parachuting a howitzer to the besieged French garrison at Dien Bien Phu. He maneuvered the crippled plane for 75 miles before it crashed and exploded in northern Laos. The day after the crash, the garrison at Dien Bien Phu surrendered.

McGovern's skeletal remains were discovered in an unmarked grave in northern Laos in 2002. They were identified in September 2006 by laboratory experts at the U.S. military's Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command.

Awards

On 24 February 2005, James McGovern was posthumously awarded (along with his co-pilot Wallace Buford, and 6 other surviving pilots), the Legion of Honour with the rank of Knight by the President of the Republic of France for their actions to supply Dien Bien Phu during the 57-day siege.

Death and Burial

James B. McGovern, Jr. died on 6 May 1954 when his plane crashed in Laos. On 24 May 2007, his remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.