Father, Fighter Pilot Hero

By Kevin Gray

Judy Conklin of rural Osawatomie was already wired for her Osawatomie High School 50-year class reunion when Pete Bell, commander of Paola’s VFW Post 3712 called her on a hunch four days before the unveiling of a monument devoted to Miami County combat veterans.

“Is your father Ray F. Conklin?” Bell asked her, and she replied, “Yes,” no doubt curious about a call concerning a man killed when the jet fighter he was piloting in 1952 crashed into the side of a 6,000- foot mountain. While on a training mission in Nevada for additional flight experience, the instrument panel had frozen and caused the accident.

Bell told Conklin how her father’s name was about to be memorialized with those of 19 other Miami County men. Ray F. Conklin received the Navy Cross in World War II, which is what Bell told her would be included with her father’s name on the monument.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Conklin said to Bell.

Seated on the patio at Paola’s VFW after the Memorial Day monument dedication, Conklin said she avoids crowds and loud noises. “And here I attended all of the alumni events. All those people. And, today, there were so many people at the combat monument dedication, and then they fired off the cannon. I can’t believe I’m still going strong,” Conklin said.

But the story about Judy’s father goes back to the days before her birth. Having graduated from OHS in 1933, Ray Conklin attended Fort Scott Community College, Kansas State Teachers College at Pittsburg and then earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Kansas in 1938. He, then, began law school. “He had finished two years of law school, but Dad felt he could finish law school anytime and joined the Navy in 1940. He wanted to be a pilot,” Judy said.

After earning his wings and the rank of ensign, Judy said, he was assigned as a fighter pilot to the USS Wasp, an aircraft carrier. By August 1942, the Wasp and the carrier-based pilots had been carrying out operations in the Solomon Islands, particularly Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo Islands to support Marine occupation.

On Aug. 7, Conklin took part in an effort to destroy Japanese patrol and fighter seaplanes. Preserved in Naval history and found in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships in the Navy’s Naval History and Heritage, the Department of the Navy, is this short description including Judy’s father. This same text can be found in other online sources, “Ensigns Reeves and Conklin each bagged two and shared a fifth patrol plane between them.”

By bagging the enemy aircraft, Conklin received the Navy Cross. His citation read, “…he disregarded machine gun fire which pierced his own airplane to strafe and personally destroy three Japanese patrol planes. This, in addition to a later strafing attack on stores, machine gun emplacements and personnel…contributed immeasurably to the successful reduction and capture of the islands.”

A month later, Conklin found himself, as well as the other members of the carrier’s crew, in the water after three torpedoes smashed into the Wasp. “Family members said Dad was in the water at least 36 hours, maybe 48, before he was picked up. They said it was like you see in the movies with the burning fuel and debris on the water. Swimming and hanging on to debris the best you can,” Judy said.

Conklin went on to more carrier assignments, Judy said, but he was land-based for a time in 1943. “He was assigned to Hollywood to make movies. Not the kind you think but training films.”

And this is where she saw her father for the first time. “Well, I should say he saw me for the first time,” Judy said.

With a smile on her face, Conklin described a trip her mother, Fern, took a six-month old Judy from Osawatomie to see Ray in California. “Mom put me in a cardboard box, we boarded a troop train down in the Osawatomie rail yard, and we spent the next few days with the mostly young guys on the train. Mom said the young troops were much different than you might think. They wanted to handle me, hold me and play with me, as if this would take their minds off of where they knew they were headed. They really helped my mother take care of me the entire trip,” Judy said.

Because the aircraft business was going full-steam in California, Judy said, apartments were hard to find. “Mom and Dad went in for what is best described as a studio-like place. Two adult couples and a baby. And, I got the bottom drawer of a dresser for my bed. This was my first bed after the cardboard box on the way out from Osawatomie. I was already moving up in life!” Judy said.

As she got to know her father, she saw a strong person but someone who could be funny and who loved sports, especially baseball and golf. “Dad always played softball in Osawatomie. All the way through high school. He also played in college and when in the Navy. He was a catcher,” she said.

By the time, Judy and her two sisters Nicki Bonner of Indianapolis, Ind., and Connie Conklin of Carmel, Ind., the youngest, were old enough to play ball with their father, she said, Connie was the one who picked up their dad’s softball ability. “Connie could outplay all the boys, she could heave that ball to any base. And, you know what position she always played? Catcher, just like Dad!” Judy said.

Three of us – Dad, Connie and me – shared the same Aug. 2 birthday. “Nicki, on the other hand, was born on Jan. 17 like Ben Franklin. I’m not sure how Nicki felt about this. And Connie, along with our father’s sporting ability, got his laugh. You knew he was in a room because of this full, wonderful sound,” Judy said.

Her father, Judy said, had his own look, when off duty. “He didn’t care what anybody thought. He was home and wanted to be comfortable in his baggy khaki shorts, aloha shirts and moccasins with the fringe. This was his outfit, his look and he didn’t care when his toes would start poking through,” she said.

When she was about eight, Judy saw her father cry for the first time in her memory. Ray had been good friends with Blue Angels pilot Johnny Magda, Judy said. “When Johnny was killed in Korea in 1951, this was the first time I saw him cry. I began crying because he was crying. I knew Johnny, too, and he had kids my age,” Judy said.

Ray Conklin already knew about Magda’s death. What set off the tears came a short time later, when Conklin received a letter written to him from Johnny in Korea. “This is when Dad began crying. This also confused me so much I had to ask Mom, ‘How do dead people write letters?’” Magda had been killed on March 8, 1951.

In August 1951, Conklin was appointed commanding officer of Squadron VF-24 at Santa Rosa, Calif. Intensive training for Korean warfare, Judy said, was under way – even though all the good planes and mechanics were on the carriers — and on Jan. 24, 1952, Ray died on a Nevada mountain. “We came back to Osawatomie for the funeral at the First Methodist Church. But there was no body to bury. I had heard an adult say, ‘He was blown to bits.’” Judy said.

What bothered Judy as much as the loss of her father was how he ceased to exist. Ray had been a popular guy at OHS, she said, having been in debate, on the student council, and active in sports. “Nobody would mention our father’s name around us kids. I knew they didn’t want to make us little girls sad. But, at the same time, I wanted to talk about my dad, but nobody would,” Judy said.

During the years, Judy had lived both in Osawatomie and California and retains memories of school in both places. “Mom decided in 1956 to return to Osawatomie for good. It would be best for us three girls,” Judy said.

Fern Conklin never remarried, even though, said Judy, her mother dated a little. “But our dad was the one; so she could never remarry,” she said.

Finishing her memories on a happy note, Judy talked about Ray’s trips home to Osawatomie. “Dad always stopped by the Naval Air Station in Olathe to get a plane before coming down to Osawatomie. From there, he flew down to Osawatomie to do a flyover. People certainly knew when Conklin was back in town, because he always circled the downtown twice.

Lt. Commander Ray Conklin was the son of Foster H. Conklin and Maude A. Shadley, and he was born in Osawatomie on Aug. 2, 1916.

“Dad loved his country, flying, and his family, but I’m not exactly sure in which order,” Judy said.

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Posted by admin on Jun 8 2011. Filed under News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry