CitySlide



305 Harbor View Parkway

Superior, WI 54880

1-888-816-WWII (9944)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Marjorie Bong Drucker, 79,

Widow of Ace of Aces, Champion of WWII Veterans

SUPERIOR, Wis., Sept. 27, 2003--Marjorie Bong Drucker, widow of World War II hero Major Richard Bong, writer and award-winning magazine publisher, and national speaker on World War II topics, died today in Superior, Wis., with her family at her side, after a six-year battle with cancer. She was 79.

Mrs. Bong Drucker was first introduced to the American public during World War II as the sweetheart of Ace of Aces Richard Ira Bong. The most successful combat flyer in America’s history, Bong affixed her college graduation photo to the nose of his airplane, which affectionately became known around the world as the P-38 “Marge.” Bong later told her she was “the most shot-after girl in the South Pacific.”

Their blossoming romance caught the nation’s eye. Her marriage to Richard Bong on February 10, 1945, with 1,200 guests in attendance, was covered by reporters from across the United States, the International News Service and newsreel cameramen from several Hollywood studios. Just six months later, on August 6, Bong was killed in Burbank, Calif., while test-piloting the Air Force’s first jet. The news was released publicly before his family was notified, so his young wife learned of his death over the radio.

“My world turned upside down,” she wrote in the foreword to the new edition of General George C. Kenney’s book “Dick Bong: America’s Ace of Aces” (Richard I. Bong WWII Heritage Center, 2003). “I withdrew as much as possible from public view. I blocked out the pain of that tragedy and learned how to survive by doing so.”

In the following years, she quietly moved on with her life. First in the fashion industry, she worked for Hollywood’s largest modeling agency. She moved into writing and magazine publishing when she met (and later married) Murray Drucker, who had come to the agency looking for someone to write a column for his magazine “California Girl.” She soon became the magazine’s fashion coordinator, and the couple traveled internationally for photo shoots. “California Girl” grew into one of the leading fashion magazines in Southern California. In 1956, she launched “The Boxer Review,” a dog magazine on the Boxer breed. When she sold the publication in 2001 and retired from publishing, it had grown to a 128-page magazine with an international subscription base, and it had won national awards as best single breed publication.

Mrs. Bong Drucker finally broke her 40-year silence about her earlier life with Dick Bong in 1985. That year, Bong’s sister Joyce Bong Erickson invited her to attend the dedication of the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge, which connects Duluth, Minn., and Superior.

With encouragement from her daughters--Kristina “Tina” Drucker, a special education teacher who runs a school in Cypress, Calif., and Karen “Tay” Drucker, an inspirational singer/songwriter--she helped establish the Bong P-38 Fund in 1989, with the goal of building a tribute to Bong and the other veterans of World War II. In 1995, she published “Memories,” a book chronicling her life with Major Bong, all proceeds from which go directly to the Bong Heritage Center.

Over the past two decades, Mrs. Bong Drucker dedicated her time to ensuring that the stories of veterans would not be forgotten. She was the vice-chair of the Richard I. Bong WWII Heritage Center and an active speaker on behalf of World War II veterans.

“The present generation is only now realizing how precious are the freedoms that were handed down to them by the brave patriots of the forties who defended the United States of American without question,” she wrote in the foreword to General Kenney’s book. “Let us never take for granted the liberties we enjoy, and let us never forget the service of others that has made, and continues to make, our nation free.”

She frequently spoke about how ordinary people during that time became heroes yet did not perceive themselves this way. In a 2001 interview with Aviation & Business Journal, Mrs. Bong Drucker said: “Richard was not unlike all of the other fellows who volunteered, didn’t wait to be drafted, and went to war. Some even tried to sneak in when they were 16 years old. That’s sheer patriotism. That, to me, sums up that era.”

She logged more than 40,000 miles on behalf of the Bong Heritage Center and was a frequent guest speaker around the country, including presentations at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, the Warbirds Museum Air Show in New York, the Air Force Academy and the Seattle Museum of Flight. For the 50th anniversary of World War II, she attended the Congressional Medal of Honor Convention in Philadelphia as well as ceremonies in Australia and Hawaii. An active supporter of aviation foundations and museums, Mrs. Bong Drucker was a member of such organizations as the 49th Fighter Group, the 475th, the 5th Air Force Memorial Foundation, the P-38 National Association and the Planes of Fame Museum.

Known for her quick wit and sense of humor, she loved talking with WWII veterans and hearing their stories. Christabel Grant, executive director of the Bong Heritage Center, remembered how people always surrounded Mrs. Bong Drucker at events to tell about their encounters with Dick Bong or with her, to give her paintings or medallions they had made for her, to have their photos taken with her.

“For so many people, Marge was their celebrity, hero and a touchstone for what they had experienced during World War II,” Mrs. Grant said. “And she took that responsibility seriously.”

In 2002, Mrs. Bong Drucker moved from her home of 50 years in Los Angeles’s Laurel Canyon to return to Poplar, Wis., where she built a home on the Bong family farm. Having championed the creation of the Richard I. Bong WWII Heritage Center, she saw the dream become reality when she helped cut the ribbon for the new museum on September 24, 2002, which would have been Dick Bong’s 82nd birthday.

“People have asked me what Richard would have thought about the heritage center,” she said in her presentation at the first annual Bong WWII Heritage Festival in June 2003. “He would have been very upset if this was just for him. He would have liked that it is a tribute for all World War II veterans. We have done our job for them, and I am very proud.”

Marjorie Vattendahl was born on October 25, 1923, in Grand Forks, N.D. She grew up in Superior and graduated from Superior Teachers College. Her first husband, Major Richard Bong, died in 1945. Several years later she married Murray Drucker, who died in 1991. She is survived by her brother William Vattendahl, of Longville, Minn., and her two daughters, Kristina Drucker, of Los Angeles, and Karen Drucker, of San Francisco.

###

CONTACT: Christabel Grant, (day) 715-392-7151, (eve) 715-374-3691, director@.

Photos of Marge Bong Drucker available.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download