A Flying Tiger Keeps Serving

A Flying Tiger Keeps Serving

Visiting an aviation museum in San Diego, Calif., last year, Don Hosford stood next to a Curtiss P-40, the World War II fighter plane, and saw nearby an autographed photo of Ken Jernstedt, an old friend from Hood River, Ore. Jernstedt had fought with the renowned Flying Tigers, a group of U.S. volunteer pilots who flew in China against the Japanese early in the war.

“I thought, ‘My gosh, here’s a World War II flying ace who lives in our own town. We ought to do something for him,’” says Hosford, a commissioner for the Port of Hood River.

Jernstedt was the first pilot from Oregon to be named an ace—by downing at least five enemy aircraft—and is personally credited with shooting down 12.5 in his seven months in China (another pilot helped with one downing). After catching malaria, he returned to the states and tested military aircraft until 1945, when he moved to Hood River to become a businessman, and then a public servant for 28 years.

When Hosford returned to Hood River (pop. 5,831), he came up with the idea of re-naming the local airfield in Jernstedt’s honor and approached other Port commissioners with his proposal. They, along with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Columbia Gorge Aviation Association, unhesitatingly gave it full support. Last June the Ken Jernstedt Airfield became a reality.

“I had no idea anything like this was being considered,” says Jernstedt, 84, who expressed shock at the announcement of the honor.

Wartime heroics aren’t all that earned Jernstedt the special recognition. His record as a public official is equally impressive.

“Ken Jernstedt is quite a guy,” Hosford says. “He’s a role model for people in small communities. He spent 22 years in the state Legislature, was mayor of Hood River twice for a total of six years, and raised his family here. He’s been a real good local citizen with his years of service.”

He retired from the state Legislature without losing an election, and today, he laments that so few people take up public office.

“I was there long enough,” he says. “It’s too bad more people don’t serve in government, because they’d learn some of the problems and realize that everything isn’t as easy as it might appear.”

These days Jernstedt leads a less public life with his wife, Gen. His yellow Labrador, Driscoll, is always by his side, acting as his eyes.

“I am legally blind,” he says. “I think I’m probably the only person in the world with a seeing-eye dog to have received the Distinguished Flying Cross 50 years after the fact.” Jernstedt and many of his fellow Flying Tigers were awarded the prestigious medal at a squadron reunion in Texas in 1996.

Hood River residents have seen the effect one man can have on so many lives, through wartime heroism and peacetime dedication.

“In the state Senate, he represented local county residents very well,” Hosford says. “To be re-elected so many times signifies the kind of person he is. People really trust him and his judgment.”

 

Martin D. Trees, a freelance writer and commentator, lives in the Columbia River Gorge.

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