Earl Chase
Earl Eugene Chase, 82, died on June 7, 2005, at his ranch home in Troy.
He was born on March 20, 1923, at Whitefish, to Fred Earl and Shirley Chase.
Services, with full military honors, will be conducted at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 15, in the Nelson & Vial Funeral Home, followed by a reception at the VFW Hall.
Interment will follow at a later date in the veterans section of the Whitefish Cemetery.
Earl spent his early childhood at Libby before moving back to Whitefish in 1931. He attended Whitefish schools until he was 15, when he added two years to his age and enlisted in the National Guard.
He later completed high school and three years of college.
After transferring to the U.S. Army, Earl became one of the 14 members of America's first paratroopers, the "Original 501," that soon expanded into the 501st Parachute Battalion.
The 501st was then deployed to Panama, under the command of Capt. William P. Yarborough, designer of the parachutist badge. Yarborough remained a lifelong friend.
During World War II, Earl made 24 combat jumps while serving with the 503rd Parachute Battalion in various battles in the Northern Solomons and other islands in the South Pacific.
After transferring into the Army Air Corps' 65th Bomb Squadron, 43rd Bomb Group, Earl became the chief radio operator on a B-24 and was also ball turret gunner whenever the bomber was attacked by enemy planes. He was based in New Guinea.
After the war he transitioned into the U.S. Air Force in 1946, continuing as a radio operator, serving on B-29 bombers in the Korean War and well as in Occupied Japan. He retired in 1960 as a senior master sergeant.
Earl received nine medals, including the American Defense Service Medal , Bronze Service Star, Bronze Service Arrowhead and the Air Medal, as well as numerous campaign ribbons.
After retiring from the military, Earl began a second career with the National Park Service as assistant personnel manager at Glacier National Park, then moving on to become personnel manager at Olympic National Park.
Earl retired in 1979 and moved to Troy where he built a home and established a cattle ranch with his wife Helen Jones Chase.
In retirement Earl was post commander of the Libby VFW, Post 1548 and later served as state commander and as district representative for the northwest in Washington, D.C., working tirelessly on behalf of America's veterans.
He was also a lifelong member of the American Legion and the Libby Christian Church.
He was preceded in death by wives Sylvia Pfrimmer Chase, and Helen Gentile Chase, and sister Arlene Maddux.
Survivors include his wife Helen, sister Evelyn Maddux, nieces Janice Maddux and Jeanne Thorsen, Whitefish, daughters and their husbands, Marguerite and William Terry Hancock, Twin Falls, Idaho, and Peggy Jo and Melvin Cherry, Yakima, Wash.; sons and their wifes, Fred and Candace Chase, Bigfork, Michael and Maria Chase, Moses Lake, Wash., and Richard and Shirley Chase, Libby; grandchildren and their spouses, William Hunter and Kelly Hancock, Twin Falls, Brian and Amy Cherry, and Jason and Joshua Cherry, Yakima, Donald Chase, Chicago, Traci and Tom Sowards, Auburn, Wash., Michael Chase, Stephanie and Kevin Burges, Moses Lake, Richard and Lori Chase, Severna Park, Md., and Barbara and Kenneth McElmurray, Everett, Wash., and numerous great-grandchildren.