Fred Hargesheimer

Major Fred Hargesheimer (May 7, 1916 – December 23, 2010) was a former pilot of the United States Army Air Forces who was shot down during World War II over Papua New Guinea in June 1943.

He earned a BS in electrical engineering from Iowa State College in 1940 before moving to Alpine, New Jersey, to work for FM radio pioneer Edwin H.

[1] Hargesheimer served with the 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II.

He was flying a Lockheed F-5A on a photo reconnaissance mission on June 5, 1943, over the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea, when his plane was attacked by a Japanese Ki-45 Nick fighter.

He came home and raised $15,000 over three years, "most of it $5 and $10 gifts," and then returned with son Richard in 1963 to contract for the construction of the school.

In 1999, aided by amateur Japanese historians of World War II, he contacted the wife of the man who had shot him down.

Fred Hargesheimer visits with pupils of the Airmen's Memorial School in Ewasse on Aug. 2, 2004, during a visit to the southwest Pacific island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. As a World War II U.S. Army pilot, he was shot down over the Japanese-occupied island and was protected by villagers for months. In gratitude, he later built this and another school, libraries and a clinic, and he and his wife taught island children in the 1970s. (Photo:Geoff Heard)