Where O'Hare Airport Got Its Name

And why luggage checked to O'Hare is tagged "ORD" instead "CO" -ChicagoO'Hare.

While doing Edward Corboy's obituary, I looked up Edward "Butch" O'Hare's life, and it was definitely an interesting one. He was a war hero of WWII, winning the Medal of Honor for his actions in 1942, and lost his life in 1943.

He was born in St. Louis. His parents divorced and his father worked for Al Capone as a lawyer before turning against him. It was largely his testimony that got Capone put into Alcatraz for income tax evasion. He was killed in his car one week before Capone got out of prison. Strange coincidence indeed.

Edward O'Hare attended the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. On February 20, 1942, while protecting the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, by himself, he engaged a squadron of Japanese bombers out to sink the ship. He shot down five of the nine in furious action and forced them to turn back, unaware that O'Hare had run out of ammunition. At one point, observers noted three bombers crashing at the same time. He was awarded the Navy's first Medal of Honor in WWII for this action. He also became the Navy's first Ace.

He was killed on November 26, 1943 during the Marianas Turkey Shoot while leading the first-ever night sortie from an aircraft carrier.

In 1945, the Navy commissioned the destroyer USS O'Hare in his honor. Four years later, due to action by Edward Corboy and Tribune Publisher Robert McCormick, Chicago's Orchard Depot Airport (ORD call letters) was renamed O'Hare International Airport on September 19, 1949.

Today, there is a display in one of the terminals featuring a full-size Grumman FYF-3, the type of plane O'Hare was flying that day in 1942, that was recovered from the bottom of Lake Michigan where it ended up on a training mishap attempting to land on the training aircraft carrier USS Wolverine during WWII.

So next time you come to or pass through O'Hare Airport, you know the rest of the story.

Very Impressed with Edward "Butch" O'Hare. --RoadDog