US Navy Lieutenant Samuel Irwin Ogden was born on November 27, 1913 in Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania, the son of Clyde Hugh Ogden (1885-1921) and Barbara Frances Hope Irwin (1891-1940). His father supported the family as a railroad brakeman until his death in 1921. Sammie was not a Pensacolian by birth, but as a naval aviator who served here, he was one nevertheless. The young man earned his wings in Pensacola and would later return in 1940 to live at 1273 East Avery Street with his wife, the former Mrs. Alice Davis, their children, and his widowed mother.
He and Alice A. Winkler Davis (1915-1966) had married on December 1, 1937 in Los Angeles, CA with one daughter born to the union plus two step-daughters. But the war in Europe began in 1939 and the Navy's high command began to prepare for the possibility of becoming involved. Then came Pearl Harbor, and the Navy needed vital information as to the enemy’s strength, deployment, and location. And that was exactly what Sammy was trained to do. Lt. Ogden would play an important role in obtaining that information at the eventual cost of his life. Leaving his wife and family in their Warrington home at 541 Second Street, he departed for the Pacific and his new duties with squadron VP-91. Before, during and after the Battle of Midway he flew himself into utter exhaustion looking for the enemy. At one point he flew for 72 straight hours taking time only to refuel before quickly taking off again. But he and his crew were able to rescue several pilots and crewmen who had been shot down or ran out of fuel during the famous battle. On one occasion he landed to pick up Captain Richard Bain and his gunner who had spent two days floating in their raft without food or water thus rescuing them for a horrible death.
However, his courageous career would end abruptly on March 5, 1944 while flying his PBY-5 patrol aircraft from Oahu to San Diego. Flying through a storm in tandem with another PBY, his buddy saw Ogden's plane begin to lose power and airspeed. They began to spiral faster and faster toward the ocean below where he and his crew of seven were killed instantly upon impact and their bodies never recovered. His wife was notified by the war department that her husband was officially “missing in action” and there would be no funeral.
After his death, Alice would remain at 541 South 2nd Street in Warrington with her three daughters and was expected to carry on with the war effort like every other widow of her time. She would remarry Raymond Eugene Courtney in 1951 but the couple would divorce in 1964. Alice would pass away in Dade County, Florida in March of 1966.
Comments