Mr. Gilbert Leo Southworth

On Monday, August 20, 2018, GILBERT L. SOUTHWORTH of Bethesda, MD.

His beloved wife of 49 years, Dorathy, and sisters Thelma Southworth, Alma Larcombe and Dorothy Keysmith predeceased him. He was the loving father of Barbara L. Southworth of Alexandria, VA, Gilbert L. Southworth, Jr. of Vienna, VA and Gwen Clare (Daniel) of Chapel Hill, NC. Also left to mourn an especially kind and generous man are his aide Ivonne, four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, two nieces, and a nephew. Friends may call at Joseph Gawler’s Sons, 5130 Wisconsin Ave. N.W. on Friday August 31, from 1 – 3 p.m. Interment in Fort Lincoln Cemetery. In lieu of flowers consider a donation in his memory to Montgomery Hospice, Capital Area Food Bank. or a charity of your choice.

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Washington native Gilbert L. Southworth enjoyed bird’s eye views atop the Capitol dome when young pals in short pants could roam there freely. He attended Eastern High School and George Washington University, and before a 41-year career with C & P Telephone Co. had the “fun job” checking that the Capitol’s first, newly installed air conditioning was working properly.

Foretelling his service in the Army Air Corps, the Washington Daily News ran a picture of young Gilbert, describing “a queer contraption which looks like a kite or perhaps the 52nd cousin of a plane” he had built in his back yard, with a letter he sent them:

“Dear Gentlemen: I am a little boy 8 years old. In the fourth grade. I’ve always been interested in airplanes. I’ve been trying to make one ever since I was 3 years old. But they did not choose to fly. I read in ‘The News’ where seven airplanes had been burned at one of the flying fields. Now I was thinking that if you have any old planes that you can’t use if you would give it to me and let me know I could have it delivered and put in my back yard. Hoping to hear from you soon. I am very sincerely Gilbert Southworth, 914 6th-st ne.

The News delivered the letter to Maj. Davidson, commandant of Bolling Field, who invited Gilbert to lunch and a tour of the Engineering Shops to see planes being built. Though not given one of the old “Jennies”, he was presented with a wooden propeller as a souvenir, one he cherished and had repaired by a fine furniture restorer when it suffered a chip.

Seventeen years after requesting a plane, reports detailed First Lt. Southworth’s freedom from German capture after he was shot down while co-piloting a B-17 Flying Fortress during a bombing raid over the Ploesti oil fields, following Romania’s capitulation.

Despite noting the POW’s meager food in his diary, mostly thin cabbage soup with an occasional eye or tooth, he considered himself lucky - not to have been imprisoned in a German or Japanese Camp, and that after only 31/2 months prisoners were released when Russians arrived to force Germans out and Romanians left the prisoners unguarded.

Though freed, prisoners in the hundreds could not leave until a colonel talked a Romanian pilot into removing radio equipment from his single-seater fighter so the two could fly to Italy, where the Air Force, learning of their plight, sent modified B-17 bombers to the rescue. After a home leave, Lt. Southworth continued service in combat intelligence, briefing pilots and crew flying training missions.

A trove of family material documents this time in his life and our history, and his account can be heard online at the Veteran’s History Project of the Library of Congress.

https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.15862/sr0001001.stream