SEARCHING THE COUNTRY TO RETURN A WWII PILOT’S LOG 

By Mary Emma Allen

We hadn’t realized, when my husband Jim came across a World War II pilot’s log midst a box of belongings we’d toted around for a quarter century that we’d be searching the country for its owner.   During our many moves, first while Jim was an Air Force pilot, then airline pilot, and eventually business owner at our present home in New Hampshire, we had some boxes that simply followed us but we never bothered to open. 

“We’ve got to find the owner of this,” Jim exclaimed, when we decided we finally had to dispense with some of the “stuff” in those boxes. 

“What’s that?” I asked. 

“A World War II pilot’s log,” Jim replied, holding up the slender well worn book of the type pilots record their flight time.  “It’s got entries from the pilot’s training days and action in the Pacific during 1944-45.”

 The log book belonged to Richard C. Van Horn, Jr. Entries included training in Arizona and Texas, then at a base in Georgia, before Van Horn shipped out to the Pacific.  Reading this was a lesson in history as we learned about day-to-day flights Van Horn had taken during action in the Solomon Islands, the Russell Islands, Guadalcanal and other Far Easternlocations.

 Where Is Van Horn Now?

 “We need to find Van Horn and return this,” Jim said. 

 So our search began about two years ago.  Looking through phone book listings, doing research on the computer and making some phone calls, brought us no closer to finding the owner.  We talked with another WWII pilot to see if he had any ideas.  While he was as fascinated as we were with the log, he ran out of suggestions, too. 

Genealogy to the Rescue

“Let’s see if DeAnn can help us,” we said.

DeAnn Jensen is Jim’s cousin, a genealogist, who lives in Wellsville, Utah.  We’ve been involved in family research together for several years.  With her assistance via census records and a Social Security Death Index Record, we discovered Richard Van Horn, Jr. had grown up in Texas and lived there at the time of his death in 1989.

“See if you can find a newspaper in the town where he died and get an obituary,” DeAnn next advised Jim. 

With the help of a secretary at The Hood County News, we obtained an obituary.  This gave information about his survivors, including his widow, Millie.  Discussion with DeAnn had Jim focusing on his in Fort Worth.  We found the Van Horns and discovered Millie was living with them. 

Return of the Pilot’s Log

So plans were made to return the log to the family, who hadn’t known of its existence.  Since Dick Van Horn and Jim has been stationed at the same Air Force base in Texas, although several years apart, we all concluded the log had come into Jim’s possession when he was instructed to disband the aero club and disperse any equipment. The log was among items no one wanted but Jim felt shouldn’t be thrown out.  . 

From there the log book followed us from Texas, to another Air Force Base in California, then to New York State, where we lived while Jim was an airline pilot, and eventually to New Hampshire, our present home. 

Meeting With the Van Horn Family

We traveled to Fort Worth, Texas to return the log.  We met with four generations of Van Horns and experienced the pleasure of having Richard Van Horn, Jr’s log book “come home.”  As we learned more about  Dick and his family, we felt we’d contributed something important to their heritage.   

Jim’s only regret was that he never got to meet this pilot.  However, we’re pleased we could reunite the historic log book with the Van Horn family. 

(2008) Mary Emma Allen

(Mary Emma Allen lives in New Hampshire, but travels and writes from around the United States. She also hosts several blogs: www.quiltingandpatchwork, www.alzheimersnotes.com, and www.homebiznotes.com ; E-mail: me.allen@juno.com )