The Oregon Air Guard’s First Thanksgiving
Officers and men of Oregon’s first military aviation unit, the 123rd Observation Squadron, assemble for a squadron picture in September, 1941 at Swan Island Municipal Airport, Portland, Oregon. At the time the squadron had just been inducted into federal service, and soon moved up to Gray Army Airfield, Fort Lewis, Washington where the members experienced their first Thanksgiving in uniform just two months later. Nearest the camera in front, from left to right are Major G. Robert Dodson, Commanding Officer, Major Carlisle I. Ferris, Jr., Army Air Corps Advisor (the father of famous aviation artist Keith Ferris) and Captain Wallace J. O’Daniels. The two aircraft were the squadron’s first aircraft, a Douglas O-46A on the left and North American BC-1A on the right. (142nd Wing History Archive)