David Guy

David Wade Guy (1897-1960) was an American military aviator who flew for the Lafayette Flying Corps, an elite group of 180 pilots who served in World War I.[1] Guy also served as one of the first members of the American Field Service and as a member of the U.S. Army Air Service with the rank of lieutenant. He earned the Croix de Guerre with palm and citation from France for his service to their country during the war.[2] Guy shot down three German biplanes during his military service.[3]

Early life and pre-war education

Guy was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Civil War veteran William Evans Guy [3] and Katherine B. Lemoine Guy on September 28, 1897. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, William Evans Guy served with the 86th Ohio Infantry in the Union Army during the American Civil War.[4] Guy's grandfather, David Everett Wade, served in the American Revolutionary after growing up in Northern New Jersey.[5] He then helped founded Cincinnati after moving west to Ohio by boat in 1790. Wade constructed the first Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati and served as a deacon and elder. He also served as a founding trustee of Cincinnati College (now the University of Cincinnati) and as a county commissioner, township officer, councilman, and first alderman.[6]

In 1915, Guy graduated from Morristown School (now Morristown-Beard School) in Morristown, New Jersey. He then studied at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey between the fall of 1915 and February 1917 before leaving for Europe to serve in World War I.[7]

Post-war education and career

Following the end of the war, Guy resumed his college studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. He received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1922. Following graduation, Guy worked for Monsanto Company, a chemical company in Missouri, and then Ingersoll Rand, an Irish industrial company with an American headquarters in Davidson, North Carolina. After working at the First Pennsylvania Banking and Trust Company in Philadelphia, he co-founded Wellington Foundation and served as their president. The foundation sold Wellington Funds, a type of mutual fund.[7]

Post-war aviation

Guy co-founded the National Flying Club and served as its first president.[8] He also served as the Secretary of the Aero Club of Pennsylvania.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Over the Front" 9. League of World War I Aviation Historians. 1994.
  2. ↑ Hall, James Norman; Nordhoff, Charles; Hamilton, Edgar G. (1920). The Lafayette Flying Corps, Volume 1.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Decorations and Citations". Princeton Alumni Weekly XIX (1). 1918.
  4. ↑ Guy, William E.
  5. ↑ Stevens, Walter Barlow (1909). "William E. Guy". St. Louis, the Fourth City, 1764-1909, Volume 3. p. 164.
  6. ↑ "Wade Burns Family Traced to Revolution". The Journal News. August 8, 1976.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Gordon, Dennis (2000). The Lafayette Flying Corps: the American volunteers in the French Air Service in World War One.
  8. ↑ Princeton University, ed. (1960). Princeton Alumni Weekly, Volume 61.
  9. ↑ "National Aeronautics" 7 (7). 1929.