Genealogy Wylie » Merwin James Combest [Wk ObtBu] (1921-1947)

Personal data Merwin James Combest [Wk ObtBu] 

• He was born on August 18, 1921 in Ransom, Ness County, Kansas.
• He died on April 21, 1947 in Kansas City, Missouri, he was 25 years old.
• He is buried in Ransom Cemetery, Ransom, Ness County, Kansas.
• A child of James Edward Combest and Edna Vivian Hopper
• This information was last updated on November 12, 2013.

Household of Merwin James Combest [Wk ObtBu]

He had a relationship with (Not public).

Child(ren):

1. (Not public)
2. Dirk James Combest  1946-2005 

Notes about Merwin James Combest [Wk ObtBu]

MERWIN COMBEST
Merwin J. Combest, army air force veteran, formerly of Ransom, was killed in an airplane crash in Kansas City, Mo., Monday afternoon. In the plane with Combest and critically injured was John E. Scrogs, a fellow air force reserve member. The cause of the accident was not determined immediately. Combest was flying as check pilot in the front seat of the plane, an AT-6. The plane was said to have struck the ground in nearly a vertical bank, with Combest being thrown from the seat to the ground. Combest had been in Kansas City for the past several months, the family making their home at Sunflower Village, Kansas. He was a bomber pilot in World War II, and was shot down over Austria in February, 1944, on a mission from his base in Italy. He was made a prisoner of the Germans from that date until in May, 1945. The wife, the former Twilla Lyon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Lyon of Ransom, and sister of Joe Lyon of Ness City, and two children survive. Others of the immediate family surviving include: His father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Combest; two brothers, Earl Combest of Kansas City, and Dale Combest of Utica; and three sisters, Mrs. Frank Zitnik and Mrs. Hubert Horchem of Ransom, and Mrs. Oscar Engle of Great Bend. The body was shipped to Ransom where funeral services were to have been held this afternoon, Thursday, with interment in the cemetery at that city.
Ness Co. News, Apr. 24, 1947
Merwin James Combest, 25 year old air forces veteran of World War II, was killed and his flying companion, John E. Scroggs, 26, was injured severely in the crash of their air forces training plane yesterday afternoon. The accident occurred at 3:15 o’clock as a wingtip of the plane, an AT-6, dug into a field one-half block north of Thirty-first Street on Blue Ridge Road. Parts of the machine were thrown south across Thirty-first Street and across Blue Ridge. Witnesses said the plane struck the ground in a position as though it was going into a vertical bank. It first struck a peony field owned by Ralph Hennrich, who lives at the northeast corner of Thirty-first Street and Blue Ridge Road. The machine then struck a tree in the Hennrich front yard, ripping away several branches. The fuselage tore across Blue Ridge stopping at the edge of a ditch. Combest’s body was hurled fifty feet farther south. The wing and undercarriage crashed across Thirty-first Street, tore the upper one-third from a telephone pole and stopped in a field about 175 feet west of Blue Ridge. The engine left the nose, and was found about 100 feet south of the wing. Scroggs was held in the wrecked fuselage by his seat belt. He was removed from the rear cockpit and was taken to the Independence sanitarium. Attendants said that he had suffered a head injury, shock, lacerations on the face and hands, a nose fracture and abrasions on the hands, arms and feet. The cause of the accident was not determined immediately. Buddy Landon, 230 1/2 West Maple Avenue, Independence, said he saw the plane from the golf links of the Rockwood Country Club. He is manager of the club house there. “The plane came from the north about 100 feet in the air,” he said. “It banked to the east and then the engine either died or the pilot cut it. Then it banked over the other way and started downward.” The two men took off from the army air forces base at the Fairfax Municipal Airport. Each was a first lieutenant in the air forces reserve. Combest was flying as check pilot in the front seat. Last night army investigators were attempting to determine the cause of the tragedy. Combest’s home was Sunflower Village, Kans. Surviving are a brother, Earl S. Combest, Lake Quivira a member of the investment firm of Prugh, Combest & Land, Inc; his father, James Edward Combest, Ransom, Kas., and his wife and child of the home. Scroggs and his wife, Mrs. Rosemary Scroggs, live at 8203 Tracy Avenue. He is the son of Mrs. Grace Scroggs, 5129 Wyandotte Street. He is a salesman for the Lehigh-Portland Cement Company. He has been a member of the air forces reserve since February, 1946. Combest joined a month earlier. Both men were bomber pilots overseas. Combest was shot down over Austria and was a prisoner of the Germans from February 23, 1944, until May 13, 1945. Based in Italy, he was shot down on his eighth combat mission. Among his decorations were the Purple Heart and four battle stars in the European and Middle East theaters.
Unknown newspaper source
OBITUARY
Merwin James Combest was born on the family farm northeast of Ransom, on August 18, 1921, and departed this life in a plane accident in Kansas City, Mo., April 21, 1947, at the age of 25 years, 8 months and 3 days. Merwin attended Pink, Cyrus and the Ransom grade schools. He became a member of the church of Christ at Ransom during his senior year at Ransom High School from which he graduated in 1939. Following a year at Dodge City Junior College, he enrolled at Kansas State College at Hays, but his college career was cut short by his enlistment in the army air corps in May of 1942. Following the winning of his wings Merwin was married to Twilla Lyon of Ransom on June 26, 1943. His army duty then took him to the European theatre and for 15 months he was held as a prisoner of war after being shot down over Austria. June 1945, marked his return to the United States and he received his honorable discharge in January 1946. The following month Merwin became affiliated with the firm of Prugh, Combest and Land, Inc., Kansas City, of which his brother, Earl was a senior member. He found the security and investment field very much to his liking, a business that both attracted and intrigued his analytic mind. In the short business that he was allowed, he had made considerable progress in grasping the fundamentals of the business that he had chosen as his life’s work. It was regarded by him as both his job and his recreation. Merwin’s hobby was flying, a love for which he developed early in his youth when at the age of 12, he attended the Trego County Fair and chose to forgo the fair’s counter attractions and spent his entire fair on riding as a passenger in an airplane. At his untimely death he was a member of the Army Air Corps Reserve and was engaged in meeting his flying requirements. He leaves to mourn his loss his wife, Twilla, his 3 year old daughter, Signe Arlene, and his son, Dirk James, aged 9 & 1/2 months; his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. James E. Combest; his sisters, Mrs. Bertha Horchem and Mrs. Blanche Zitnik of Ransom, and Mrs. Florence Engle of Great Bend; his brothers, Earl L. Combest of Kansas City, and Dale E. Combest of Utica; numerous other relatives and an ever widening circle of friends.
Ness Co. News, May 1, 1947

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