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Burling Phillip R.

Name:
Phillip R. Burling
Rank:
Captain
Serial Number:
Unit:
Date of Death:
1944-04-27
State:
Cemetery:
Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Kentucky
Plot:
E
Row:
Grave:
166
Decoration:
Comments:

Capt. Burling attended Oak Park high school, where he was president of the Monogram club, captain of the 1932-33 football team, and winner of the local fieldhouse record for the 50-yard dash. Thereafter he studied at Denison university, the University of Illinois, Northwestern university and the Northwestern University Dental school. His fraternities were Phi Delta Theta.and Xi Psi Phi.

In June, 1940, he was graduated from the Northwestern University Dental school, where he had been president of his junior class. A week after his graduation he enlisted in the army air forces. Upon receiving his commission he had the unique distinction of being the only Lieutenant in the Air Corps who was also a dentist. Before volunteering for service in China, he served in Puerto Rico, British Guiana, Brazil, North Africa and Arabia.

Captain Burling died on April 28, 1944, while piloting a C- 87 type of cargo plane over the "hump" of the Himalayas. The aircraft departed from Jorhat, India, on a cargo mission to Kunming, China.

During the flight the plane radioed that the crew was bailing out, but no reason for this action was given. The next day a fescue plane flew over the same course and located the still burning wreckage of the ship. Emergency packs were dropped and an air net warning party set out on foot, but when the cargo ship was reached it was found that the bodies of Capt. Burling and the crew were in the plane. The men were apparently trapped by shifting cargo when the plane started to fall, and they were unable to bail out.

Capt. Burling and the members of his crew were first buried in the American Military cemetery in Barrackpore, India. On November 2 all of the men will be buried in a National Cemetery in Louisville. At the time of his death, Capt. Burling had made more than 60 flights over the dangerous terrain from India to China. He also practiced dentistry, after arriving in India.

Capt. Burling was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: Oak Leaves (Oak Park, IL), 27 Oct 1949, pg. 56