Skip to main content

James Dennis Mugavero, American Flying Ace

Welcome to my first post in a very long time! Despite Covid seeming to be the perfect opportunity to power ahead with my research and blogging, I actually found myself concentrating on other projects. I hope to get back into the research soon, but I did have this post sitting around as a draft from when I was researching my Phelan ancestors: it is about a family link to an American World War II Flying Ace, James Mugavero:

James Dennis Mugavero was born on 3 July 1920 in Port Huron, Michigan. He grew up there and attended Port Huron Junior College before enlisting in the U.S. Army following the United States’ entry into World War II. He applied for pilot training, was accepted, and was sent to Arcadia Field, Florida, for Primary Flight Training, with Basic Flight School at Bainbridge Field, Georgia. He subsequently earned his wings and commission as a Second Lieutenant at Marianna, Florida on 1 October 1943. Following additional training in the P-47, Lieutenant Mugavero was sent to the Southwest Pacific Theater to serve with the 41st Fighter Squadron, 35th Fighter Group, arriving in January 1944.

Sometime after his arrival, James met an 18-year old Australian girl by the name of Patricia Anne Tobin. Patricia was a second cousin of my Dad (see chart below for how she fits into the tree). On 16 September 1944 the couple were wed at St Vincent de Paul's church at Redfern in Sydney. Of course with the war on they would not have too much time together, and very soon James was in the thick of the action.

Mugavero's first 'victories' came on October 14: Flying escort for a bombing strike on the Japanese base at Balikpapan, Borneo, he engaged a formation of four Japanese Ki-43 Oscars, fired a short burst at one and saw it explode. Rolling away, he sighted another Oscar 3,000 feet below. Diving on the Japanese fighter, he opened fire as soon as he came within range. As black smoke streamed from the crippled Oscar, the canopy blew off, and Mugavero saw it disintegrate as it dove into the ground. He was awarded the Silver Star for his action that day.

In subsequent aerial battles, Lieutenant Mugavero shot down a Kate and a Tony in November. He became an ace (defined as shooting down five or more enemy aircraft in aerial combat) on 13 January 1945 with his final kills when he destroyed a Hamp and an Oscar on the same afternoon mission.

Mugavero left the service after the end of the war, and in April he and his wife departed Sydney to begin their married life together in the United States. James was soon recalled to active duty in 1950 for the Korean War buildup and remained in the Air Force; for a period in the 1960s he served in the Eighth Bomb Squadron in the Third Bomb Wing, based (with his family) outside Tokyo. Read this article for a very interesting tale of when he thought he might have been facing World War III! James retired finally from the force in May 1970 as a Lieutenant Colonel.

The couple had three children through the 1950s: Michael, Melinda and Jennifer. They lived at various addresses in the USA before settling into retirement in San Mateo, California. James Mugavero passed away on 15 April 1996 and Patricia Mugavero on  30 April 1997 and both are buried in the Vets Section of the Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo. They were survived by their children and grandchildren; it would be interesting to one day connect with these distant Phelan relatives!   

James Dennis Mugavero's War Record:
Tally Record: 6 confirmed.
Decorations: Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, Philippines Liberation Medal.








Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

General Hewitt and the Man from Elba

I have always enjoyed saying I'm 1/16th Italian. I've often been asked if I have a European background, so it's fun to be able to provide that answer. Though so far, my DNA test is showing no evidence of this background! Nevertheless, it is true, my family does have one Italian ancestor. He was my 2x great-grandfather and his name was Antony Gasperino. His arrival in this country dates back to the 1850s, in quite unusual circumstances, on a ship named the General Hewitt . But before we even make our way on board that ship, what little we know of Antony's early life deserves a mention. Antony (presumably Antonio in his native land) Gasperino was born on the island of Elba in 1836. From his marriage certificate we know that his father was Lawrence (Lorenzo) Gasperino but his mother's name is not recorded. On his death certificate her name is listed as 'not known'. It's strange that even the informant at the time of his death (his son Joseph) would not kno...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Austin Phelan Met his Wife

Dad's father Phillip Stanley Phelan was one of twelve children (eight boys and four girls) born to Joseph Phelan and Mary Gasperino. By the time Dad was eight years old, he had five uncles and three aunts surviving. As I have mentioned previously, I don't recall hearing much about them from him when I was growing up, and certainly not Austin George Phelan, who was the youngest of the boys in the family. Austin was born in Benalla in 1904, lived in the Essendon area all his life, like many of the Phelan clan, and worked as a brewery employee. But it is how he came to meet his wife Sara that proved to be of most interest once I started digging.  As you can see above, Austin was listed as the 'co-respondent' in the 1931 divorce case between John Carnegie Lovick and his wife Sara Annie Lovick. In other words, he was the 'other man' who had become involved with a married woman (who would later ultimately become his wife). Officially John Lovick was petitioning...
Post a Comment
Read more

Three Phelan Brothers in the Great War

As a youngster I was told that my grandfather, Phillip Stanley Phelan, had been a Prisoner of War in the First World War but that was about the extent of the story. I never knew my grandfather, and chances are that even if I had, I might not have got many details from him, as plenty of men who lived through that horrific experience didn't like to talk about it. Even when my interest in genealogy began I didn't have a huge interest in the war. However once I got looking at the records, I wanted to make sense of them and began to delve deeper into the stories. While Stan is my only direct ancestor to have served in the conflict, he was one of three sons of Joseph Phelan who enlisted, one of whom would pay the ultimate price. I also discovered many more relatives on Dad's side of the family who took part. One day I may write something more comprehensive about the experiences of all my relatives who served - there were many on Mum's side as well - but for now my post will ...
Post a Comment
Read more