Hunt Co., TX - Obits: Charles LeFan ***************************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb by: Sarah Swindell USGenWeb Archives. Copyright. All rights reserved http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ***************************************************** Charles LeFan Charles LeFan, a World War II fighter pilot, devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle, passed away September 5, 2008, in Austin after a brief illness. He was eighty-seven. Charley grew up in Greenville and was a 1938 graduate of Greenville High School. He worked and reared his family in Dallas, and retired to a home he loved on Lake Whitney in Laguna Park where he was an active in community and civic affairs. In 1942 Charley married Dorothy Turner, also of Greenville, who was a 1940 Celeste High School graduate, and like so many of his generation immediately enlisted to serve in World War II. He earned his pilot’s wings in the US Army Air Corps, flew P-39's and P-40's in Panama, then volunteered for the 2nd Air Commando Group and was sent to the China-Burma-India Theater of the war. Based at Cox’s Bazaar on the Bay of Bengal near the India-Burma border, he flew P-51's in sixty-five combat missions, supporting the British 14th Army in their capture of Rangoon. His most notable mission was the longest fighter sweep of the war, a nearly 1,500-mile flight from Cox's Bazaar to Don Muang Airport in Bangkok. But his most memorable mission was when a bullet hit his oil tank while flying over southeastern Burma, completely covering his windshield in oil. He was able to open his canopy only an inch giving him a slight view of the horizon. With his oil pressure nearly gone and losing altitude, he managed to land safely in a grassy field near Akyab Indian Air Force base. Upon landing he was greeted by the Commander of the Indian Air Force and as he noted in his journal, “They took me under their care and treated me as if I were a Maharaja.” Friends remember Charley as upbeat and positive with a great sense of humor. He was an early adopter of technology and loved to send and receive e-mail. Up until just before he died, he was still in contact via e-mail with his fellow China-Burma-India pilots and many close friends and family around the country. He is survived by his wife of sixty-six years, Dorothy, of Austin; his son, John LeFan, of San Francisco; his daughter, Linda LeFan Whiteside, of Austin; his grandson, Kris LeFan of Los Angeles; his great-grandson Traven; his sister Ann Prince Jones of Greenville, who was District Clerk of Hunt County for many years; and seven nieces and nephews. (October 26, 2008, The Greenville Herald Banner)