Ensign Henry George Gilbert Jr. USN / AVG

Henry George Gilbert Jr was born September 23, 1919 to Mr. and Mrs H G Gilbert. He was raised on the family ranch outside Lowell Wyoming and graduated from Lowell HS in 1937. The next fall he enrolled at NMAMC. His father had attended school here in 1916 prior to enlisting in the Navy and serving aboard a destroyer in WW I. After one year at NMAMC he left and entered Washington State which he attended until 1940. In March 1940 he entered the US Navy as a flying cadet. After training at Pensacola and Miami he was commissioned and received his aviator wings. In early 1941 he served aboard the USS Saratoga as a fighter pilot. In September 1941, prior to the US entry into the war, he volunteered to join the American Volunteer Group flying out of China against the Japanese. This group came to be known as the Flying Tigers. On December 23, 1941 he was shot down while flying against Japanese bombers attacking Rangoon. He was the youngest member of the Flying Tigers and the first former student of NMAMC to die in the Second World War. His father, working with Era Rentfrow, began the effort to secure private donations to build a memorial to the former students who would die in service to their nation. His was the first donation made for the Aggie Memorial Tower. His body was able to be recovered and today he rests at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu Hawaii. Ensign Henry George Gilbert Jr was 22 years old at the time of his death.