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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly Oct '47
Robert Hugh McDougal No.15492
Class of 1946 Killed September 30, 1946 near Florence,
Arizona |
SECOND LIEUT. ROBERT HUGH McDOUGAL, known to his many
friends and comrades as “Mac”, died September 30,1946
when his plane, a P-51, crashed on a routine raining flight near
Florence, Arizona.
He was born July 10, 1925 at Clovis, New Mexico where all
his boyhood years were spent. He enjoyed and participated in
all the outdoor sports available to boys in his community. He
won letters in basketball and football each year he was in high
school, and was captain of both of these teams during his senior
year of high school. He never missed a practice in three years
of high school playing, and was never removed from a game due
to injuries. He played quarterback as a freshman during his one
year at the University of New Mexico, and was playing the same
position for the football team at Williams Field before he was
killed. He also won letters in major sports at West Point.
Never for athletic honors did he lower his ideals. To
him the thing that mattered most was not whether the team lost
or won, but how it played the game and to him, the game was never
considered lost until the last whistle blew.
He was consistently at the head of his class in scholastic
citizenship and athletic records, as long as he was in school.
In 1942 he entered the University of New Mexico, and had begun
his second year there when he received a congressional appointment
to tile United States Military Academy at West Point. He
entered there August 3, 1943, and applied himself with his usual
serious determination to becoming the type of military man his
country needed. He loved people, and they instinctively trusted
him. His ambition was to be a good officer and have the sincere
respect of his fellow men.
On completion of three years at West Point, he received
the coveted silver wings at Stewart Field, and graduated June
4, 1946 as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Air
Corps.
After his furlough, which was spent at home with his
parents, friends, and his older brother then recently discharged
from the Navy, he was assigned to Williams Field at Chandler,
Arizona. He was sent from there to Ajo, Arizona for gunnery school,
and then reported back to Williams Field for P-47 and P-51 flying.
He wrote glowing letters home about the beauty of the
planes and the country and how he liked flying. He had wanted
to fly ever since he was a small boy modeling airplanes, and
now he could see his dream coming true.
He had a deep, sincere and abiding faith in God, and
wrote that he felt close to God when flying. He said the happiest
moments of his life at West Point were those spent in the beautiful
chapel which always gave him a “lift”. He sincerely
believed that the character training at the Academy was its crowning
glory.
To us who are left is always the question—Why should
he have to die so young when all of life was before him? But
we read that across the centuries it has always been the blood
of youth that has enriched the cause of freedom, when invested
in the cause of justice and sacrificed for the truth of God.
“Mac” has lived among us. The measure
of life is not how long one has lived but rather how he has lived
the years allotted to him. We can truly say of this youth,
“He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often
and loved much: who has gained the respect of intelligent men,
and has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left
the world better than he found it; who has never lacked appreciation
of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who has always
looked for the best in others, and given the best he had; whose
life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.”
His Mother, (Mrs. C.C. McDougal)
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