Another Warhawk in a remote tropical location

7th Fighter Squadron

49th Fighter Group

Based at Batchelor Field, Australia's Northern Territory from March to September 1942

2/Lt Joseph H. King, a devout Catholic, married his girlfriend Mary Lucille after whom he named his Warhawk, on 28th May 1943, almost immediately upon his return from the Pacific. He stayed in the U.S Air Force from which he retired as a colonel in 1968, then he then ventured into a second career as a stock broker.

King later fathered ten children, born from 1947 through 1963. Although he briefly owned a flying service in Valdosta, Georgia (his final U.S Air Force duty station) after retirement, he discouraged his children from learning to fly. King, who remained reluctant to discuss his wartime experiences throughout his life, died in the year 2000 at the age of 80, after a protracted battle with laryngeal cancer.

This webpage is respectfully dedicated to the memory of King and his fellow American aviators who helped defend Australia in 1942.

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