Lt William Kearns USN

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Bill Kearns was born in Lexington, Massachusetts in 1924. At the outbreak of WW 11 Bill was living in Panama where his father was Chief Engineer for the 15 h Navy District. Bill decided to join the Navy as an Aviation Cadet. Within a year he had earned his wings and was commissioned at Corpus Christi, Texas. He was assigned to the Pacific where he served as a replacement pilot for F6F carrier-based squadrons. After the War Bill served as a flight instructor at Corpus Christi. Applying for a commission in the regular Navy, Bill was transferred to Florida for training in twin-engine seaplanes. Following his training he was assigned to Fleet Airwing Five based in Norfolk, as a co-pilot of a PBM-5 Mariner. Kearns volunteered for Operation Nanook, a six month assignment to the Arctic, where he flew numerous exploration missions. Upon his return, Bill was made aware of Admiral Byrd's large expedition to the Antarctic, Operation High Jump. Volunteering for the expedition, which was the largest exploration expedition ever mounted, Bill was assigned to the USS Pine Island as a PBM co-pilot. Bill was onboard George-1 when it crashed in terrible weather. Flying in white out conditions, and with the aircraft heavily burdened with ice, the PBM gradually lost both speed and altitude. Bouncing off a mountain pass, some of the PBM's fuel tanks were ruptured. This resulted in an explosion with Kearns literally being blown out of the burning aircraft. Despite being seriously injured in the crash, Kearns braved the fire in the wreckage of his PBM to rescue his pilot, Frenchy LeBlanc. Although three died in the crash, the six survivors managed to survive horrific conditions for fourteen days until they were spotted by another Mariner piloted by Lt. Jimmy Ball. Following his rescue Kearns spent several months in the US Navy Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. He attended Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service after leaving the Navy. He became a Washington correspondent for several magazines including Time. Later he served in a number of overseas assignments, retiring from the company as head of its Latin American Division. Kearn retired to Florida with his wife. The Kearns have six children, and fifteen grandchildren. On of Bill's sons carried on in aviation, retiring from the Air Force as a Colonel, having served as a pilot of Air Force One.

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