Lieutenant Edward O'Hare was a navy flyer who gave his life when he was just 29 years old. Today his name is still a byword in aviation. His monument is the world's busiest airport in his home town of Chicago - O'Hare International.
It is appropriate that it should be named after a military hero who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1942. Military men shaped it during World War 2. The largest US troop and cargo carrying airplane, the Douglas C-54, was built at a factory on the site and the base, known then as Orchard Field, was almost entirely used by the military.
When the war ended Chicago quickly established itself as the world's busiest civil aviation operation, but it was the city's Municipal Airport, later to become Midway, which held the title. A far-sighted City Council saw the potential for air travel and decided a second major facility would be needed. They bought Orchard Field from the US government together with another 7,000 acres next door. That was in 1946. Three years later $2.4 million was spent on acquiring more land and Orchard Field was re-named O'Hare in honor of that young war hero.
The airport was already busy before it was officially opened to domestic commercial flights in 1955, but Midway was still the star attraction. In its busiest year, 1959, Midway handled ten million passengers compared to the fledgling O'Hare's two million. It was a testing time but for the newcomer change was to be rapid.
Like so much in Chicago the legendary Mayor Daley played a part. When more money was needed for expansion he refused to take it out of the pockets of local taxpayers. Instead a powerful financial group was put together and raised a spectacular $155 million selling revenue bonds.
The expansion went on and by 1962 all scheduled operations had been transferred from Midway to O'Hare. The rest, as they say, is history. When the airport was officially dedicated the following year President John F. Kennedy said "it could be classed as one of the wonders of the modern world". He was right in one sense because O'Hare preserved its title as 'World's Busiest' for over 30 years until it was overtaken by Atlanta in 1998.
There is still one reminder of that distant past when young men who fought America's battles in the skies knew it as Orchard Field. O'Hare's airport code used on tickets and baggage tags is ORD. A sense of history still has a place among all Chicago's achievements.
