Major Richard Ira Bong

This Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter, through the efforts of General George C. Kenney, was donated by the United States Air Force in memory of Major Richard I. Bong. Major Bong a native of Poplar, was credited with destroying 40 Japanese aircraft in aerial combat and earned the title of "America's Ace of Aces" while flying P-38s in the Southwest Pacific during World War II. In December 1944 Major Bong was awarded the nations highest award the Congressional Medal of Honor for his exploits. General Douglas MacArthur cited the young Wisconsin ace as entering the "society of the bravest of the brave." On August 6, 1945 Major Bong was killed while testing a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet.