Merle Vernon Ogden was born Sept. 10, 1920 to William H. and Myrtle Augusta Cole Ogden. He died Jan. 17, 1944 and is buried in Saint Ansgar Cemetery, Saint Ansgar, IA.
Lt. Ogden served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps 429th Fighter Squadron and died as the result of a plane crash in the suburbs of Lomita, CA. He deliberately crashed his P-38 plane into a vacant lot to save the lives of hundreds of school children at the Narbonne High School. He might have brought his plane down on the extensive school grounds without serious injury to himself but it would have meant the lives of several pupils who were scattered thickly about the area. Instead, he chose the lot—where a victory garden was growing—too small for any possible safe landing.
Source: ancestry.com
