In the small town of Ridgeway, Missouri, a farmer and his wife gave birth to two sons. Frank Turner Rinehart and Ola May Sanders had nine children in all, but two of their sons would help change naval history in the Pacific. Before the first bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, Clark Franklin Rinehart enlisted in the US Navy in 1937 at the age of 27-years old. He received his wings of gold in Pensacola, Florida on June 8, 1938. Here he met Dorothy Ruth Dupuy from the Pensacola High School Class of 1937. She was the daughter of Joseph Edgar and Marie Camilla Dupuy and the sister of John Krumwise Dupuy from the Class of 1942.
John would enlist in the US Army Air Corps and become a P-51 fighter pilot with the US 8th Air Force in Europe. During the Battle of the Coral Sea, Clark was flying air cover over his carrier, the USS Lexington, on the second day of the battle. Suddenly, Japanese attack planes came out of the clouds as Clark and his comrades flew to intercept them. However, Clark and his fellow pilots were eventually shot down and killed and the Lexington was sunk on May 8, 1942. His bravery and sacrifice forestalled the inevitable, but could not prevent it. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts whereas the new destroyer DE-196 was named in his honor.
Elsewhere, his younger brother Carl Ward Rinehart had joined the conflict in the South Pacific as a pilot of a B-24 Consolidated Patrol Bomber. He had also obtained his wings of gold and married a Pensacola girl by the name of Una Clare Merritt, daughter of William Joseph Merritt Sr. and Isabel W. Lee. Between July 24 and August 9, 1945, Carl was patrolling off western Honshu carrying out low level attacks on targets of opportunity. During this period, he sunk a large enemy ammunition ship, two enemy patrol vessels, a railroad bridge along with two enemy trains. For this act of bravery, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross. He retired from the Navy as a Captain before passing away in Pensacola on January 14, 1996. He was buried in Barrancas Cemetery with full military honors. Ola's two sons were now together once again, their sacrifice and duty fulfilled!
Ltjg Clark Rinehart's USS Lexington beginning its journey to the bottom of the Pacific 1942
Pensacola News Journal 10-9-1945