Alan Eckhart |
| Posted 2008-11-17 by Sharon |
| The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, AZ January 15, 1997 Former Councilman Alan Eckhart Dies - Alan Eckhart, former Wickenburg Town Council member and B-17 bomber pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps' famed 8th Air Force during World War II, died Monday, Jan. 13 in Phoenix of leukemia. He was 78. Mr. Eckhart was born Oct. 12, 1918 in Chicago, Ill. He had lived in Arizona for the past 27 years. Mr. Eckhart served two terms on the Town Council, from May 1984 to May 1992. He and his wife, Dee, who survives him, owned and operated a lunch counter near Wickenburg High School during the early 1980s. Mr. Eckhart, serving as a first lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, flew 25 missions with the 315th Bomb Wing of the 8th Air Force out of England during World War II. His plane, a B-17 "Flying Fortress," was shot down on his 25th mission over Zeider Zee in Holland. He and his crew were later rescued and returned to England. He then was stationed in Guam in the Pacific Theater of Operations with the 315th at the time the war ended. He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross. Mr. Eckhart attended a reunion of the 315th Bomb Wing in October 1996 in Tucson, meeting many men he hadn't seen for over 50 years. Mr. Eckhart was a member of St. Anthony's Catholic Church, and worked in many areas of the church. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus. He was the first driver of a Red Cross van in Wickenburg. He worked for Monarch Photo in Sun City West, working the machinery and developing film. Survivors include his wife Dee, of Wickenburg; two sons, Hal Eckhart of Minneapolis, Minn. and Gerry Eckhart of Salem, Ore.; three daughters, Anne Watson of Prescott, Ellen Williams of Bloomfield Hills, Minn. and Joyce Eckhart of Prescott; sister, Robin Kleinz of Payson; brother Gerry Eckhart of Trafalgar, Ind.; five grandchildren; and mother-in-law Marion Russell of Wickenburg. Mass will be at 10a.m. Friday, Jan. 17 in St. Anthony's Catholic Church. Fr. John Vogt will officiate. Burial will follow in the Wickenburg Municipal Cemetery. See Also: Find a Grave |
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