Or Arklahoma Heritage: A WWI winner of the Distinguished Cross for wartime heroics hailed from rural Benton County

Field Eugene Kindley

Field Eugene Kindley was born on March 13, 1896, near Pea Ridge in Benton County, He was the only son of George Cephus Kindley, who worked as a schoolteacher and later as an agricultural supervisor, and Frances Ella Spraker Kindley.

His mother died just before his third birthday, around 1898 or 1899. After her death, his father went to the Philippines in 1898 to run an agricultural school in Manila

.Field stayed in Arkansas and was raised by his paternal grandmother, Cynthia Kindley, in Bentonville for the first seven years of his life. In 1903, at age seven, he moved to Manila to live with his father. He spent five years there before returning to Benton County in 1908 at age 12. He then lived with his uncle, A.E. Kindley, in Gravette.

The house where he stayed in Gravette is now the Gravette Historical Museum. He finished high school in the area.

After high school, Kindley moved to Coffeyville, Kansas. He became a partner in a motion picture theater there. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Kindley joined the Kansas Army National Guard in May.

He soon transferred to the U.S. Army Signal Corps aviation section. He trained at the School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois starting in September 1917. He was sent to England for more training late that year.

Kindley was commissioned as a first lieutenant on April 15, 1918. On May 5, 1918, while flying a Sopwith Camel from England to France, he crashed on the White Cliffs of Dover because of fog and was injured. After he recovered, he joined the Royal Air Force's No. 65 Squadron.

His first confirmed victory came on June 26, 1918, when he shot down a German Pfalz D.III fighter. He got a second victory on July 13, an Albatros D.V. In July 1918, he moved to the American 148th Aero Squadron. He scored its first victory on July 13 by downing an Albatros D.V near Ypres.

When the squadron commander was sick, Kindley took over command in late July. He was later promoted to captain. He continued to score victories in dogfights. His total reached 12 confirmed kills, which made him the third-highest scoring American ace of the war.

in late September 1918, he led attacks that included shooting down enemy planes, bombing targets, and strafing troops. For his actions, he received the Distinguished Service Cross with one Oak Leaf Cluster and the British Distinguished Flying Cross.

After the war ended, Kindley commanded squadrons in Europe and New York. In December 1919, he took command of the 94th Aero Squadron at Kelly Field in Texas.On February 1, 1920, during a practice flight for a demonstration, a control cable broke on his S.E.5 plane.

To avoid hitting soldiers on the ground, he stalled the aircraft. It crashed from about 100 feet, and he was killed at age 23.

His body was brought back to Gravette, snd was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery there. His parents are buried nearby. His funeral procession traversed Main Street and was the largest funeral to date in the history og the small Benton County community.

Today, Gravette has Kindley Park named after him, and he was inducted into the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame in 1982.