Allen G. McGuire, age 88, of Clovis, NM, died Tuesday, August 22, 2006, at University Medical Center in Lubbock. He was born February 26, 1918, to William Isaac and Hattie Grover Young McGuire, in Red River County, Texas.
He left Clarksville during the Depression to work at Colorado National Monument in Grand Junction, Colorado. He quarried and finished massive red sandstone blocks used to construct buildings still utilized by the National Park Service. He left in 1940 to return to Clarksville to find another job with $300 in his pocket, enough to buy a house for him and his mother.
He found a job right away working on a highway north of Clarksville. When it was finished, he applied to the Texas State Highway for a job paying 37.5 cents an hour at a time when most folks were earning 10-12 cents. At first he was told there wasn't a job. He looked so crestfallen, the hiring engineer took pity on him and told him to come to work the following Monday. After six months, he heard a construction company was hiring first aid men for 90 cents an hour. He had some medical experience from his work in Grand Junction so he applied and was hired, giving him an office job for the first time. He worked at a munitions plant near Texarkana just prior to joining the Air Force.
His love of flying began when a barnstormer came to Clarksville. A friend dared him to go up with the pilot, even paying the considerable sum for the privilege. Mr. McGuire said everything he learned about flying, he learned that day when the pilot let him take over the stick and pedals which controlled the plane. He very much wanted to join the Army Air Corps, the precursor to the Air Force, but they only accepted college graduates. When this restriction was eased in 1942 during WWII, he applied and was accepted.
Allen McGuire served in three armed conflicts ? WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. His life reflected the history of flight. The first plane he piloted was a wood and canvas Stearman biplane, flown with great fanfare to his hometown, Clarksville, Texas, by a barnstormer. By the time he retired from a distinguished career with the Air Force, he had flown supersonic fighter planes, including the F-101 Voodoo and the F-105 Thunderchief. He fought in one of the fiercest and biggest air battles the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing engaged in during the Korean War. He believed he coined the term "MiG alley", which he used when being interviewed by Time Magazine reporters. It became part of the lexicon after being reported in the magazine.
He married the love of his life, Fay Lennon, two weeks before leaving for basic training. The first time he saw this attractive, vivacious, dimpled brunette, she was 16 and packing tomatoes at harvest time. He tried to engage her in conversation, but in exchange for being allowed to work in the tomato shed, she had promised her mother she wouldn't talk to any "tomato tramps". He wouldn't see her again for two years when she was working as one of the first female soda jerks at the soda fountain in Bullenton's Pharmacy on the Clarksville Square. They married a year later, on March 6, 1943 in Texarkana, Texas.
Mr. McGuire graduated from training in 1943 and was sent to Duxford, England, where he flew P-47s. "It was the best airplane I ever flew. It was the fastest plane in the world at the time," he said. Duxford, a postage stamp size town in the English countryside, is now the site of the Royal Air Force Museum. The Air Force created a landing strip there by laying pierced steel planking into the grass. He flew 64 missions. He would have been promoted if he had flown a few more but, turned down the chance. Of the thirty pilots who went to England with the 78th Fighter Group, only ten survived the war.
He was mustered out after the war. He returned to Clarksville, where Fay combined her war bonds with his money so they could buy a farm. A few months later, he was recalled to active duty and joined the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing in Selfridge Field near Mt. Clemens, Michigan. They were subsequently stationed at Andrews Air Force Base near Kearney, Nebraska, and Bergstrom Air Force Base outside Austin, Texas. In late 1950, the wing was deployed to fight in the Korean War, a conflict marked by bitterly contested air battles. Despite enemy aircraft being markedly better, they were never able to gain air superiority, a testament to the skill of United Nation fighter pilots, primarily those of the U.S. Air Force. The wing flew its first combat mission less than a month after being notified it was being deployed. In January 1951, Mr. McGuire was part of the biggest air battle of the Korean War to date. In all, the 27th pilots claimed four MiGs destroyed, three probables (including one by then Capt. McGuire) and four damaged against no losses. Mr. McGuire logged 127 missions in Korea before returning to Bergstrom Air Force Base. Subsequent assignments included Ramstein Air Force Base and Wiesbaden Air Force Base in Germany (1959-1961), Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina (1961-1965), Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa (1965-1968), and Saigon during the Vietnam War (1968-1969). He moved to Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis, New Mexico, thereafter and served until his retirement in 1973.
He remained in the Clovis area and worked as a real estate agent for Bob Burch's Town & Country Real Estate. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church and the Dadelians and volunteered for the United Way, ultimately serving on its Board.
He is survived by his wife, Fay McGuire of Clovis, New Mexico; six children, Allen (Denna) McGuire of Midland, Texas; Mary (Clay) Lively of Round Rock, Texas; Pat (Lynn) McGuire of Austin, Texas; Martha McGuire of Chicago, Illnois; Timothy McGuire of Houston, Texas; John (Nancy) McGuire of Dallas, Texas; eight grandchildren, Edie McGuire, Robert McGuire, Michael Lively, Jennifer Lively, Cody McGuire, Travis McGuire, Jack McGuire, and Max McGuire, two great-grandchild, Ava McGuire, and Owen McGuire. He is preceded in death by his parents; a son, Capt. Michael Lennon McGuire - 1981; two sisters, Billie Henry; and Laverne McDaniel; and two brothers, Edward McGuire, and Malcolm McGuire.
Services will be held at First United Methodist Church at on Friday, August 25, 2006, 2:00 P.M. with Dr. Ran Loy officiating. Burial will follow at Lawn Haven Memorial Gardens in Clovis. Pallbearers will be his sons and grandsons. Military Honors will be presented by Cannon Air Force Base Honor Guard. Contributions will be accepted by First United Methodist Church in Clovis. Arrangements are by Muffley Funeral Home, Inc., Clovis, NM. (505) 762-4435. www.muffleyfuneralhome.com
Published in the Clovis News Journal and the Portales News-Tribune from 8/24/2006 - 8/25/2006.
He left Clarksville during the Depression to work at Colorado National Monument in Grand Junction, Colorado. He quarried and finished massive red sandstone blocks used to construct buildings still utilized by the National Park Service. He left in 1940 to return to Clarksville to find another job with $300 in his pocket, enough to buy a house for him and his mother.
He found a job right away working on a highway north of Clarksville. When it was finished, he applied to the Texas State Highway for a job paying 37.5 cents an hour at a time when most folks were earning 10-12 cents. At first he was told there wasn't a job. He looked so crestfallen, the hiring engineer took pity on him and told him to come to work the following Monday. After six months, he heard a construction company was hiring first aid men for 90 cents an hour. He had some medical experience from his work in Grand Junction so he applied and was hired, giving him an office job for the first time. He worked at a munitions plant near Texarkana just prior to joining the Air Force.
His love of flying began when a barnstormer came to Clarksville. A friend dared him to go up with the pilot, even paying the considerable sum for the privilege. Mr. McGuire said everything he learned about flying, he learned that day when the pilot let him take over the stick and pedals which controlled the plane. He very much wanted to join the Army Air Corps, the precursor to the Air Force, but they only accepted college graduates. When this restriction was eased in 1942 during WWII, he applied and was accepted.
Allen McGuire served in three armed conflicts ? WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. His life reflected the history of flight. The first plane he piloted was a wood and canvas Stearman biplane, flown with great fanfare to his hometown, Clarksville, Texas, by a barnstormer. By the time he retired from a distinguished career with the Air Force, he had flown supersonic fighter planes, including the F-101 Voodoo and the F-105 Thunderchief. He fought in one of the fiercest and biggest air battles the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing engaged in during the Korean War. He believed he coined the term "MiG alley", which he used when being interviewed by Time Magazine reporters. It became part of the lexicon after being reported in the magazine.
He married the love of his life, Fay Lennon, two weeks before leaving for basic training. The first time he saw this attractive, vivacious, dimpled brunette, she was 16 and packing tomatoes at harvest time. He tried to engage her in conversation, but in exchange for being allowed to work in the tomato shed, she had promised her mother she wouldn't talk to any "tomato tramps". He wouldn't see her again for two years when she was working as one of the first female soda jerks at the soda fountain in Bullenton's Pharmacy on the Clarksville Square. They married a year later, on March 6, 1943 in Texarkana, Texas.
Mr. McGuire graduated from training in 1943 and was sent to Duxford, England, where he flew P-47s. "It was the best airplane I ever flew. It was the fastest plane in the world at the time," he said. Duxford, a postage stamp size town in the English countryside, is now the site of the Royal Air Force Museum. The Air Force created a landing strip there by laying pierced steel planking into the grass. He flew 64 missions. He would have been promoted if he had flown a few more but, turned down the chance. Of the thirty pilots who went to England with the 78th Fighter Group, only ten survived the war.
He was mustered out after the war. He returned to Clarksville, where Fay combined her war bonds with his money so they could buy a farm. A few months later, he was recalled to active duty and joined the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing in Selfridge Field near Mt. Clemens, Michigan. They were subsequently stationed at Andrews Air Force Base near Kearney, Nebraska, and Bergstrom Air Force Base outside Austin, Texas. In late 1950, the wing was deployed to fight in the Korean War, a conflict marked by bitterly contested air battles. Despite enemy aircraft being markedly better, they were never able to gain air superiority, a testament to the skill of United Nation fighter pilots, primarily those of the U.S. Air Force. The wing flew its first combat mission less than a month after being notified it was being deployed. In January 1951, Mr. McGuire was part of the biggest air battle of the Korean War to date. In all, the 27th pilots claimed four MiGs destroyed, three probables (including one by then Capt. McGuire) and four damaged against no losses. Mr. McGuire logged 127 missions in Korea before returning to Bergstrom Air Force Base. Subsequent assignments included Ramstein Air Force Base and Wiesbaden Air Force Base in Germany (1959-1961), Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina (1961-1965), Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa (1965-1968), and Saigon during the Vietnam War (1968-1969). He moved to Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis, New Mexico, thereafter and served until his retirement in 1973.
He remained in the Clovis area and worked as a real estate agent for Bob Burch's Town & Country Real Estate. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church and the Dadelians and volunteered for the United Way, ultimately serving on its Board.
He is survived by his wife, Fay McGuire of Clovis, New Mexico; six children, Allen (Denna) McGuire of Midland, Texas; Mary (Clay) Lively of Round Rock, Texas; Pat (Lynn) McGuire of Austin, Texas; Martha McGuire of Chicago, Illnois; Timothy McGuire of Houston, Texas; John (Nancy) McGuire of Dallas, Texas; eight grandchildren, Edie McGuire, Robert McGuire, Michael Lively, Jennifer Lively, Cody McGuire, Travis McGuire, Jack McGuire, and Max McGuire, two great-grandchild, Ava McGuire, and Owen McGuire. He is preceded in death by his parents; a son, Capt. Michael Lennon McGuire - 1981; two sisters, Billie Henry; and Laverne McDaniel; and two brothers, Edward McGuire, and Malcolm McGuire.
Services will be held at First United Methodist Church at on Friday, August 25, 2006, 2:00 P.M. with Dr. Ran Loy officiating. Burial will follow at Lawn Haven Memorial Gardens in Clovis. Pallbearers will be his sons and grandsons. Military Honors will be presented by Cannon Air Force Base Honor Guard. Contributions will be accepted by First United Methodist Church in Clovis. Arrangements are by Muffley Funeral Home, Inc., Clovis, NM. (505) 762-4435. www.muffleyfuneralhome.com
Published in the Clovis News Journal and the Portales News-Tribune from 8/24/2006 - 8/25/2006.
Allen G. McGuire, age 88, of Clovis, NM, died Tuesday, August 22, 2006, at University Medical Center in Lubbock. He was born February 26, 1918, to William Isaac and Hattie Grover Young McGuire, in Red River County, Texas.
He left Clarksville during the Depression to work at Colorado National Monument in Grand Junction, Colorado. He quarried and finished massive red sandstone blocks used to construct buildings still utilized by the National Park Service. He left in 1940 to return to Clarksville to find another job with $300 in his pocket, enough to buy a house for him and his mother.
He found a job right away working on a highway north of Clarksville. When it was finished, he applied to the Texas State Highway for a job paying 37.5 cents an hour at a time when most folks were earning 10-12 cents. At first he was told there wasn't a job. He looked so crestfallen, the hiring engineer took pity on him and told him to come to work the following Monday. After six months, he heard a construction company was hiring first aid men for 90 cents an hour. He had some medical experience from his work in Grand Junction so he applied and was hired, giving him an office job for the first time. He worked at a munitions plant near Texarkana just prior to joining the Air Force.
His love of flying began when a barnstormer came to Clarksville. A friend dared him to go up with the pilot, even paying the considerable sum for the privilege. Mr. McGuire said everything he learned about flying, he learned that day when the pilot let him take over the stick and pedals which controlled the plane. He very much wanted to join the Army Air Corps, the precursor to the Air Force, but they only accepted college graduates. When this restriction was eased in 1942 during WWII, he applied and was accepted.
Allen McGuire served in three armed conflicts ? WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. His life reflected the history of flight. The first plane he piloted was a wood and canvas Stearman biplane, flown with great fanfare to his hometown, Clarksville, Texas, by a barnstormer. By the time he retired from a distinguished career with the Air Force, he had flown supersonic fighter planes, including the F-101 Voodoo and the F-105 Thunderchief. He fought in one of the fiercest and biggest air battles the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing engaged in during the Korean War. He believed he coined the term "MiG alley", which he used when being interviewed by Time Magazine reporters. It became part of the lexicon after being reported in the magazine.
He married the love of his life, Fay Lennon, two weeks before leaving for basic training. The first time he saw this attractive, vivacious, dimpled brunette, she was 16 and packing tomatoes at harvest time. He tried to engage her in conversation, but in exchange for being allowed to work in the tomato shed, she had promised her mother she wouldn't talk to any "tomato tramps". He wouldn't see her again for two years when she was working as one of the first female soda jerks at the soda fountain in Bullenton's Pharmacy on the Clarksville Square. They married a year later, on March 6, 1943 in Texarkana, Texas.
Mr. McGuire graduated from training in 1943 and was sent to Duxford, England, where he flew P-47s. "It was the best airplane I ever flew. It was the fastest plane in the world at the time," he said. Duxford, a postage stamp size town in the English countryside, is now the site of the Royal Air Force Museum. The Air Force created a landing strip there by laying pierced steel planking into the grass. He flew 64 missions. He would have been promoted if he had flown a few more but, turned down the chance. Of the thirty pilots who went to England with the 78th Fighter Group, only ten survived the war.
He was mustered out after the war. He returned to Clarksville, where Fay combined her war bonds with his money so they could buy a farm. A few months later, he was recalled to active duty and joined the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing in Selfridge Field near Mt. Clemens, Michigan. They were subsequently stationed at Andrews Air Force Base near Kearney, Nebraska, and Bergstrom Air Force Base outside Austin, Texas. In late 1950, the wing was deployed to fight in the Korean War, a conflict marked by bitterly contested air battles. Despite enemy aircraft being markedly better, they were never able to gain air superiority, a testament to the skill of United Nation fighter pilots, primarily those of the U.S. Air Force. The wing flew its first combat mission less than a month after being notified it was being deployed. In January 1951, Mr. McGuire was part of the biggest air battle of the Korean War to date. In all, the 27th pilots claimed four MiGs destroyed, three probables (including one by then Capt. McGuire) and four damaged against no losses. Mr. McGuire logged 127 missions in Korea before returning to Bergstrom Air Force Base. Subsequent assignments included Ramstein Air Force Base and Wiesbaden Air Force Base in Germany (1959-1961), Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina (1961-1965), Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa (1965-1968), and Saigon during the Vietnam War (1968-1969). He moved to Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis, New Mexico, thereafter and served until his retirement in 1973.
He remained in the Clovis area and worked as a real estate agent for Bob Burch's Town & Country Real Estate. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church and the Dadelians and volunteered for the United Way, ultimately serving on its Board.
He is survived by his wife, Fay McGuire of Clovis, New Mexico; six children, Allen (Denna) McGuire of Midland, Texas; Mary (Clay) Lively of Round Rock, Texas; Pat (Lynn) McGuire of Austin, Texas; Martha McGuire of Chicago, Illnois; Timothy McGuire of Houston, Texas; John (Nancy) McGuire of Dallas, Texas; eight grandchildren, Edie McGuire, Robert McGuire, Michael Lively, Jennifer Lively, Cody McGuire, Travis McGuire, Jack McGuire, and Max McGuire, two great-grandchild, Ava McGuire, and Owen McGuire. He is preceded in death by his parents; a son, Capt. Michael Lennon McGuire - 1981; two sisters, Billie Henry; and Laverne McDaniel; and two brothers, Edward McGuire, and Malcolm McGuire.
Services will be held at First United Methodist Church at on Friday, August 25, 2006, 2:00 P.M. with Dr. Ran Loy officiating. Burial will follow at Lawn Haven Memorial Gardens in Clovis. Pallbearers will be his sons and grandsons. Military Honors will be presented by Cannon Air Force Base Honor Guard. Contributions will be accepted by First United Methodist Church in Clovis. Arrangements are by Muffley Funeral Home, Inc., Clovis, NM. (505) 762-4435. www.muffleyfuneralhome.com
Published in the Clovis News Journal and the Portales News-Tribune from 8/24/2006 - 8/25/2006.
He left Clarksville during the Depression to work at Colorado National Monument in Grand Junction, Colorado. He quarried and finished massive red sandstone blocks used to construct buildings still utilized by the National Park Service. He left in 1940 to return to Clarksville to find another job with $300 in his pocket, enough to buy a house for him and his mother.
He found a job right away working on a highway north of Clarksville. When it was finished, he applied to the Texas State Highway for a job paying 37.5 cents an hour at a time when most folks were earning 10-12 cents. At first he was told there wasn't a job. He looked so crestfallen, the hiring engineer took pity on him and told him to come to work the following Monday. After six months, he heard a construction company was hiring first aid men for 90 cents an hour. He had some medical experience from his work in Grand Junction so he applied and was hired, giving him an office job for the first time. He worked at a munitions plant near Texarkana just prior to joining the Air Force.
His love of flying began when a barnstormer came to Clarksville. A friend dared him to go up with the pilot, even paying the considerable sum for the privilege. Mr. McGuire said everything he learned about flying, he learned that day when the pilot let him take over the stick and pedals which controlled the plane. He very much wanted to join the Army Air Corps, the precursor to the Air Force, but they only accepted college graduates. When this restriction was eased in 1942 during WWII, he applied and was accepted.
Allen McGuire served in three armed conflicts ? WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. His life reflected the history of flight. The first plane he piloted was a wood and canvas Stearman biplane, flown with great fanfare to his hometown, Clarksville, Texas, by a barnstormer. By the time he retired from a distinguished career with the Air Force, he had flown supersonic fighter planes, including the F-101 Voodoo and the F-105 Thunderchief. He fought in one of the fiercest and biggest air battles the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing engaged in during the Korean War. He believed he coined the term "MiG alley", which he used when being interviewed by Time Magazine reporters. It became part of the lexicon after being reported in the magazine.
He married the love of his life, Fay Lennon, two weeks before leaving for basic training. The first time he saw this attractive, vivacious, dimpled brunette, she was 16 and packing tomatoes at harvest time. He tried to engage her in conversation, but in exchange for being allowed to work in the tomato shed, she had promised her mother she wouldn't talk to any "tomato tramps". He wouldn't see her again for two years when she was working as one of the first female soda jerks at the soda fountain in Bullenton's Pharmacy on the Clarksville Square. They married a year later, on March 6, 1943 in Texarkana, Texas.
Mr. McGuire graduated from training in 1943 and was sent to Duxford, England, where he flew P-47s. "It was the best airplane I ever flew. It was the fastest plane in the world at the time," he said. Duxford, a postage stamp size town in the English countryside, is now the site of the Royal Air Force Museum. The Air Force created a landing strip there by laying pierced steel planking into the grass. He flew 64 missions. He would have been promoted if he had flown a few more but, turned down the chance. Of the thirty pilots who went to England with the 78th Fighter Group, only ten survived the war.
He was mustered out after the war. He returned to Clarksville, where Fay combined her war bonds with his money so they could buy a farm. A few months later, he was recalled to active duty and joined the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing in Selfridge Field near Mt. Clemens, Michigan. They were subsequently stationed at Andrews Air Force Base near Kearney, Nebraska, and Bergstrom Air Force Base outside Austin, Texas. In late 1950, the wing was deployed to fight in the Korean War, a conflict marked by bitterly contested air battles. Despite enemy aircraft being markedly better, they were never able to gain air superiority, a testament to the skill of United Nation fighter pilots, primarily those of the U.S. Air Force. The wing flew its first combat mission less than a month after being notified it was being deployed. In January 1951, Mr. McGuire was part of the biggest air battle of the Korean War to date. In all, the 27th pilots claimed four MiGs destroyed, three probables (including one by then Capt. McGuire) and four damaged against no losses. Mr. McGuire logged 127 missions in Korea before returning to Bergstrom Air Force Base. Subsequent assignments included Ramstein Air Force Base and Wiesbaden Air Force Base in Germany (1959-1961), Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina (1961-1965), Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa (1965-1968), and Saigon during the Vietnam War (1968-1969). He moved to Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis, New Mexico, thereafter and served until his retirement in 1973.
He remained in the Clovis area and worked as a real estate agent for Bob Burch's Town & Country Real Estate. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church and the Dadelians and volunteered for the United Way, ultimately serving on its Board.
He is survived by his wife, Fay McGuire of Clovis, New Mexico; six children, Allen (Denna) McGuire of Midland, Texas; Mary (Clay) Lively of Round Rock, Texas; Pat (Lynn) McGuire of Austin, Texas; Martha McGuire of Chicago, Illnois; Timothy McGuire of Houston, Texas; John (Nancy) McGuire of Dallas, Texas; eight grandchildren, Edie McGuire, Robert McGuire, Michael Lively, Jennifer Lively, Cody McGuire, Travis McGuire, Jack McGuire, and Max McGuire, two great-grandchild, Ava McGuire, and Owen McGuire. He is preceded in death by his parents; a son, Capt. Michael Lennon McGuire - 1981; two sisters, Billie Henry; and Laverne McDaniel; and two brothers, Edward McGuire, and Malcolm McGuire.
Services will be held at First United Methodist Church at on Friday, August 25, 2006, 2:00 P.M. with Dr. Ran Loy officiating. Burial will follow at Lawn Haven Memorial Gardens in Clovis. Pallbearers will be his sons and grandsons. Military Honors will be presented by Cannon Air Force Base Honor Guard. Contributions will be accepted by First United Methodist Church in Clovis. Arrangements are by Muffley Funeral Home, Inc., Clovis, NM. (505) 762-4435. www.muffleyfuneralhome.com
Published in the Clovis News Journal and the Portales News-Tribune from 8/24/2006 - 8/25/2006.
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