Kearby, Neel Ernest, born 05-06-1911, in Wichita Falls, Wichita County, 
Texas, United States, to Dr. John Gallatin Kearby Jr. (1881–1963) and his wife Bessie Lee, born Stone Kearby (1886–1972). 
Neel had one brother, Major John Gallatin Kearby III (1905–1943). Major John Gallatin. Kearby III served with the Engineering Research Department of the U. S. Army Air Corps., Wright Field, Ohio.
was killed in service to his Country during World War II, His promising career ended tragically in a plane crash in Charlevoix, Michigan on 02-08-1943, age 37 and. was awarded the 
. Neel was married with Virginia King, born Cochran Kearby Shoemaker (1919–1989) 
.The couple had three sons, Robert Neel Kearby (1939–1974), John Michael Kearby (1941–1977) and Kenneth C. Kearby (1942–1974). The brothers Kenneth and Robert were killed in aircraft when they hit Electric Lines Accross Arkansas River below Keystone Dam.
He graduated from Arlington High School in 1928, 
and graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1936 (known then as North Texas Agricultural College) with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Kearby joined the Army Air Corps 
in 1937, and received flight training at Randolph and Kelly Air Fields 
.Kearby then served with the 94th and 40th Pursuit Squadrons of the 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field in Michigan, 
until December 1940. Kearby commanded the 14th Pursuit Squadron in the Panama Canal Zone from December 1940 to August 1942, where he flew P-39 Airacobras.
He was transferred in October 1942 to Westover Field in Massachusetts to take command of the new 348th Fighter Group with the rank of major. In June 1943, now a lieutenant colonel, Kearby arrived in Australia with his fighter group after months of training on the P-47 Thunderbolt. 
The 348th used the P-47’s flight characteristics to their advantage. They used their turbo supercharged engines to fly at high altitude to the target and dove on the Japanese planes before firing their eight .50-caliber machine guns on the lightly armored enemy aircraft.
Kearby opened his score on 04-09-1943, with a Mitsubishi G4M bomber and a Nakajima Ki-43, and followed this up ten days later by shooting down another twin-engined bomber, a Mitsubishi Ki-46. On September 23, he was promoted to full colonel.
He flew an aircraft bearing the name “Fiery Ginger”. There were several planes with this title in the 358th Fighter Group at that time. All of Kearby’s P-47D’s—bore the names, “Fiery Ginger”, “Fiery Ginger II”, “Fiery Ginger III” and “Fiery Ginger IV”. They were all named after his wife Virginia.
On 11-10-1943, Kearby led four P-47s 
on a fighter sweep over the Japanese base at Wewak, and ran into 40 Japanese Army fighters. The ensuing combat lasted close to an hour, and when it was over, Kearby had shot down six enemy planes: four Nakajima Ki-43s and two Kawasaki Ki-61s.
Two other pilots had downed three Ki-61s between them for a total of nine Japanese fighters shot down without loss. This made Kearby the first P-47 ace of the Pacific Theater of Operations, and set a United States Army Air Forces record for most victories in a single mission.
Upon hearing of this aerial victory, General George Churchill Kenney, 
head of Fifth Air Force 
in the Pacific, recommended Kearby for the Medal of Honor, 
which was presented to him by General Douglas MacArthur
himself in January 1944.
The American record for most victories in single mission is nine, set a year later by USN F6F Hellcat pilot, David McCampbell. 
Kearby’s record was later broken within the United States Army Air Force as well, when P-51 Mustang pilot William Arthur Shomo 
downed seven Japanese planes in a six-minute fight over the Philippines in January 1945.
Postwar evaluation of Japanese records showed that only two of the nine victories credited on the Medal of Honor mission were valid, although three other Japanese fighters were damaged. However, the two losses were a squadron leader and a wing commander.
In November 1943, with 12 victories to his credit, Kearby was transferred to the headquarters of the 5th Air Force Fighter Command. Despite his assignment to administrative duties, Kearby still wanted to be in combat. He flew missions whenever he could, and his victory tally continued to rise. For a time Kearby was in competition with Richard Ire “Dick” Bong 
to be the leading Army ace of the Pacific Theater. Like Kearby, Bong was not assigned to a combat unit at the time and flew in addition to his assigned duty of instructor in order to stay in combat.
During early March 1944, fighter pilots Bong and Thomas Joseph “Thomas”. Lynch 
were close to breaking the American World War I record of 26 victories scored by pilot Eddie Rickenbacker.
Hoping to break the record himself, Kearby hoped to score more victories to tie or break his record.
Kearby with his P-47 showing 15 “kills”Kearby in February 1944P-47 painted to appear as the plane flown by Kearby, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. In the background under left wing can be seen original rudder from Kearby’s P-47 wreck.By March 1944, Kearby had 21 kills to his credit.
Death and burial ground of Kearby, Neel Ernest.
On 05-03-1944, Kearby took off on a combat patrol with Captain William Douglas Dunham 
and Major Samuel Blair
to search for Japanese aircraft. Flying his personal aircraft “Fiery Ginger IV” he proceeded towards the Tadji area. They spotted enemy aircraft over Wewak, and intercepted three Kawasaki Ki-48s of the 208th Sentai approaching Dagua Airfield.
Kearby opened fire on one aircraft, but did not observe it to go down and made a complete circle to attack it again. While performing this maneuver, he was attacked by a Ki-43 from the 77th Sentai before wingman William Dunham could shoot it down. Kearby’s P-47 crashed into the jungle below. Afterwards, Dunham and Blair unsuccessfully searched for him until they ran short on fuel and returned to Saidor Airfield.
Kearby, age 32, was observed by local people on the ground to have escaped by parachute and as he descended he became tangled in a tree and died of bullet wounds from the attack. His remains were found in 1947 by a Royal Australian Air Force 
search team, but they were not identified until two years later. Neel Kearby was buried in Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery, Section Garden Of Devotion Block 13, Lot 19, Space 7 & 8. in July 1949.
Kearby is the first United States Army Air Forces fighter pilot to receive Medal of Honor. Neel is the only serviceman from Arlington to receive the highest military accolade a soldier can earn. Also there is a Texas Historical Marker at the Base of the Statue as well.
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