Description
Diary, appointments and awards, letters of condolence,
writings, and published and newspaper accounts, 1917-1921, relating to the life and
career of Howard T. Douglas and to the Alaska Flying Expedition of 1920.
Background
Howard Thomas Douglas was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on 1 October 1887, the
second son and youngest of the four children of Summerfield Douglas (1847-1927) and
his wife, Rebecca Clark (1849-1913). The family immigrated to the United States in
1895, and appears in the 1900 census in Lincoln Township, Pembina County, North
Dakota, where Summerfield is listed as a farmer. By the time of the 1910 census, the
family had settled in Covina, California, where Summerfield worked as a salesman for
the Covina Realty Company. Howard graduated from Covina Union High School and the
University of California at Berkeley. He enlisted as a private in the United States
Army in January 1917, joining a coast artillery unit in Covina. In May 1917, after
the United States declaration of war, he was sent to the first officer's training
school at the Presidio in San Francisco, where he received his commission as a first
lieutenant of infantry, U.S.R., at the end of the month. In July 1917, he was called
to active duty, and upon finishing training camp the following month proceeded via
Camp Lewis, American Lake, Washington, to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he received his
first instruction in aerial observation. In December 1917, he proceeded to France
where he served as an aerial observation officer, where he served with distinction,
being twice recommended for promotion to Major, and receiving the Distinguished
Service Medal. Following the armistice he was placed in command of an aviation unit
in Germany; he returned to the United States in the summer of 1919. He then entered
the Regular Army with the rank of Captain, and was attached to General Mitchell,
Chief of Air Service. He served as Mitchell's aid and flying companion, directing a
cross-country flight and playing a vital role in the Alaska flying expedition of
1920. He helped write the War Department's first aviation manual. He was drowned in
the Chesapeake Bay, off Tangier Island, on June 22, 1921, during a practice bombing
raid on the hulk of the battleship San Marcos, after
his plane collided with another flown by Lieutenant Marll J. Plumb. His body was not
recovered until July 1, 1921. He was buried in Oakdale Cemetery, Covina, on 12 July
1921.