AlamoPA Mailing List: Fw: Two True Stories

[Sallie Carlson (wacsc11945]

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Robert Ahrenkiel <gp-bob11 [at] att.net>

Sent: Saturday, June 5, 2021, 11:00:51 AM CDT

Subject: Fw: Two True Stories

Subject: Re: Two True Stories

Very interesting how our life story has it's ups and downs, hills and

deserts.  

 

 

Two Good True Stories

                  STORY NUMBER ONE

Before he struck it rich as an infamous lawyer and wealthy president of the Sportsman’s Park racetrack, "Easy Eddie" was just an ambitious Irish businessman from St. Louis, Missouri.

He married a young woman named Selma Lauth when he was just 19, and the couple had two daughters, Patricia and Marilyn, and one son, Edward. His career had undeniably humble beginnings as he raised his family in an apartment above his father-in-law’s Soulard grocery store.

Ever industrious, Easy Eddie found the time to take classes and pass the Missouri bar exam while he sent his son to Western Military Academy in Alton. He joined a law firm and continued to expand his business interests, but didn’t really hit it big until he met Owen Patrick Smith, the commissioner of the International Greyhound Racing Association.

Smith had originally hired Easy Eddie to obtain a patent license for a mechanical rabbit that he used to entice the dogs to race around the track, which was lucrative in itself. When Smith died shortly after, Easy Eddie purchased the patent rights from Smith’s widow. With his newfound earnings, Eddie moved his family to a nicer neighborhood. Then he and Selma divorced in 1927 and Eddie took their three children and moved to Chicago.

Crime bosses in 1930’s Chicago operated like business insurers and so when Easy Eddie sought to set up shop there, none other than notorious crime boss Al Capone collaborated with him on business ventures. By 1931, Capone and Eddie had opened and were operating dog tracks in Chicago, Miami, and Boston. Easy Eddie continued to rake it in, but after a while, he began to tire of working with Capone and his lawless mob.

Around the same time, son Edward (“Butch”) was in the process of applying to the Naval Academy and would require the backing of a congressman in order to be accepted. Easy Eddie was well-connected, but he feared to harm his son’s reputation via his illegal dealings, and so by some accounts, this was the catalyst which led Easy Eddie to turn away from — and eventually turn in — Al Capone.

Easy Eddie contacted a former St. Louis colleague, a reporter named John Rogers, who put him in touch with the Internal Revenue Service. Eddie turned over a series of Capone’s financial records which gave prosecutors the evidence they needed to finally arrest and convict the long sought after criminal of tax evasion. Capone was consequently imprisoned in Alcatraz from August 1933 to January 1939.

Easy Eddie's “contribution to the investigation of Al Capone ought to be put in proper perspective, and without his cooperation, there never would have been a case against Capone,” ex-Chicago cop and unofficial historian Ed Burke reported.

Easy Eddie also managed to help his son enter the Naval Academy successfully.

But Easy Eddie’s change of heart cost him his life. On his way home from a racetrack on November 8th, 1939, Eddie was shot by two men in a neighboring car. They were most likely hit men, acting out of retaliation for putting Capone away, although this was never proven and no arrests for Easy Eddie’s murder were ever made.

 

  
  
STORY NUMBER TWO  

  
World War II produced many heroes.   One such man was Lieutenant Commander Edward O'Hare.   He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.                      

 

        

On February. 20, 1942, his crew received notice that the Japanese were shipping supplies into Rabaul. The USS Lexington, led by Lieutenant Commander John Thach, headed toward Rabaul to make a strike at the Japanese, but they were discovered en route by an enemy Snooper. The Snooper relayed their position back to the Japanese, and, by that afternoon, multiple Japanese bombers were upon them.

Thach led an interception, but in the meantime, more Japanese bombers headed towards them.  O'Hare and his wingman, "Duff" Dufilho, launched from the Lexington to try to head off the second wave.

It soon became apparent that no other pilots were close enough to assist in the fight. Rather than head back, O'Hare went on to intercept them alone. Demonstrating remarkable marksmanship, he single-handedly downed five Japanese bombers, attacking them until he ran out of ammo.

He had used only sixty rounds of ammo for every bomber he had destroyed.

  
Upon arrival back on the Lexington, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun camera mounted on his plane told the tale.  It showed the extent of O'Hare's daring attempt to protect his fleet. 

 

For that action, O'Hare became the Navy's first Ace of WW II,   and the first Naval Aviator to win the Medal of Honor.  

  
A Year later Edward O'Hare was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29.  His hometown would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.  

 

 

 

SO, WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?  

  

Edward "Butch" O'Hare was "Easy Eddie's" son.