FADE IN
KENAN
Welcome to Lynx to the Past. In this episode, we will reveal how a 19-year-old college student from Memphis fell in love and became a symbol of hope for the United States during the second world war.
LILLIAN
Carroll Edward “Mac” McCarthy was a young military doctor in the spring of 1942. He had joined the 91st Bomb Group in Florida but the unit was transferred for training in Walla Walla, Washington. The ground crew was shuttled to the Pacific Northwest by train, but that left his wife, Elizabeth, to drive their car alone across the US. On her way to meet her husband, she stopped in Memphis to visit her family. She complained to her mother Bessie Rob Polk about just how boring and lonely the drive was. Her mom volunteered her younger sister to go along and keep her company. Her younger sister Margaret, however, was not excited about this last-minute trip. After spending her first two years of college at Southwestern (now Rhodes) she had just returned home from her junior year at the University of Wisconsin. Disappointed in her year there, she was planning to finish her education back in Memphis. She probably imagined a lazy summer at home, lounging by the pool at the University Club instead of driving 2,000 miles in her sister’s Ford. The 19-year-old was finally bribed into joining her sister with promises of a trip to Sun Valley and Yellowstone if she would just get in the car with her sister and a Scottie dog and go.
So that’s how Margaret Polk ended up at the Army air base in Walla Walla in the summer of 1942. It’s also how the young women who had never really dated very much became very popular. Because there were so many young men around, Margaret had her choice of dates. She was invited to a young bomber pilot’s birthday party at the end of July, but her sister and brother-in-law wouldn’t let her break a previous engagement for the last-minute event. It caused a huge fight in the McCarthy house and suddenly Margaret was determined to get to know the Birthday Boy, Bob Morgan, even better.
KENAN
In 1940, seeing that the US would join the war, Robert Knight Morgan had enlisted in the Air Force.
Somehow, he was able to remain in the pilot training program even though he repeatedly violated rules and protocols. He was reportedly a talented pilot, but he buzzed events, homes, buildings, or anything that looked like something he might want to get a closer look at. He even buzzed a garden party being held by his commanding officer. He burned out the brakes landing too fast on runways that were too short for his B-17. He refused to wear the regulation uniform.
He basically did whatever he wanted and when it came time for final training Walla Walla, he didn’t get to fly there with the other pilots; instead, as punishment, he had been on that hot, slow train with Dr. McCarthy.
After the birthday party incident in July, Margaret had Bob’s attention as well . He woke her up every morning at 5am by flying his airplane so low that all the windows in her sister’s house would shake. It was a whirlwind romance, but summer was ending, and Margaret had to head home to go back to school. She made that promised visit to Sun Valley and Yellowstone with a friend from the University of Wisconsin, circling back to Walla Walla and then one last visit to Yellowstone to visit a handsome Park Ranger she had met.
By the time she reached Memphis, there was a letter waiting for her.
“My dearest ‘Polky,’ I miss you ‘little one.’ I miss you more than you’ll ever know or understand…. I know now that I have never loved before…. If we can’t have OUR LIFE before the war is over, I know I shall come to you afterwards, providing you still want me…. Write soon, ‘little one.’ I send you all the love in my heart. Forever yours, Bob.”
The Park Ranger was history.
LILLIAN
On September 12 Bob Morgan landed in Memphis and got special permission to show Margaret his plane. They went to a dance at the Peabody Hotel and Bob bought her a sweetheart ring. It was A little gold knot with diamonds in the bow of it,
On September 21, 1942 Margaret signed for a package from Bob. It was a diamond engagement ring and a note:
To: the dearest person in all the world- you-
With this ring you are mine as long as you love me- God make that forever-
I’ll return to make you happy forever.
Your Bob.
The squadron’s last assignment before heading to Europe in the fall of 1942 was to pick up a brand-new B-17 Flying Fortress in Bangor, Maine. All the crews were naming their planes and Robert Morgan felt his crew should name theirs as well. There are several versions of this story. In one, Morgan told newspapers that the plane was named in honor of his fiancée Margaret Polk. He liked Southern belles and Margaret was a Southern Belle, so he just called it the Memphis Belle.
James Verinis, the co-pilot of the plane remembers that they had just watched the movie “Lady for a Night” that featured a Mississippi gambling boat called “The Memphis Belle”. In his 2001 memoir, “The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle,” Morgan outlines how both stories are correct— the airplane was named in honor of Margaret Polk and the actual name itself came from the movie. It’s a good thing they went to see that movie, since “the Memphis Belle” is a much catchier name than “Little One”, his pet name for Margaret that was his first choice.
After deciding on a name, Morgan called Esquire magazine in New York and talked to George Petty. He asked the creator of the 1940’s Petty Girl drawings to design the nose art for Memphis Belle. Petty agreed and sent a work that had been previously published in the April 1941 issue. An artist in the squadron painted the pin-up girl on the nose of the bomber. She wore a red bathing suit on one side and a blue bathing suit on the other side.
Morgan flew off to war with Margaret’s photo in the cockpit of the plane named in her honor.
KENAN
In the last months of 1942, the Allies sustained heavy losses in Europe. American morale needed a boost. Every little victory made headlines. When the editor of the Memphis Press-Scimitar learned that one of the airplanes doing battle in Europe was named for a local woman, he immediately put a reporter on it. The next day pictures of Margaret and Bob were on the front page. Their love story was now a public relations campaign.
The Memphis Belle was one of almost 13,000 heavy bomber B-17 Flying Fortresses designed by Boeing aircraft company during World War II. To keep up morale, the command generals had set an incentive for the individual bomber crews. After they completed 25 bombing missions from England into Nazi-held Europe, that plane’s men would be rotated back to service in the States. The Belle crew was one of the first to hit that mark, completing their 25 assigned missions between November 1942 and May 1943.
They received a total of 60 decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, and four Oak Leaf Clusters.
When they returned to the U.S., Morgan and his crew took the Belle on a nationwide bond-selling tour. The government was banking on the romantic fairy tale of the handsome pilot and his devoted fiancée to raise money for the war effort and boost morale.
The JUNE 20, 1943 Commercial Appeal headline read:
The Memphis Belle Comes Home and Her Skipper Wins a Memphis Belle of His Own
“Laden with romance instead of bombs, the bullet-scarred Memphis Belle came home yesterday from the war-torn skies over Hitler's Europe and surrendered to Dan Cupid where German flak had failed.
Veteran of 25 raids over enemy territory and first bomber to return to America from Europe, the B-17 Flying Fortress landed at Memphis Airport Authority shortly after 1 p.m. and a moment later its youthful commander, Capt. Robert K. Morgan, 24, emerged to be greeted by his fiancée, Miss Margaret Polk of 1095 Poplar. He found her waiting with a
Reception Committee, headed by Mayor Chandler, city and county officials and high-ranking Army officers.
"Hey, Darling," were Captain Morgan's first words as he leaped from the big bomber's door and threw both arms around his bride-to-be.
"Hello, sugar!" was her reply, as they hugged each other tightly.”
LILLIAN
After reuniting in Memphis, Robert left for the 31-city war bond tour with the rest of the crew. When they reached Ohio, Bob’s pre-war employer had flown Margaret and her mother up to Cleveland to surprise him. It was a BIG surprise since he already had a date for the evening. Still, he swept Margaret into his arms for the cameras and insisted they get married on the spot. A store was opened so Margaret could buy a wedding dress. She declined.
On July 23, Bob sent a telegram to Margaret from Laredo, TX asking her to change their plans. “Don’t come to Oklahoma City. Will meet you in Mobile.”
On August 1, Margaret phoned him at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver. “I don’t remember what made me so mad,” she says. “Some woman must have answered the telephone, or she must have come and talked to him while he was talking to me. But something happened.” When she realized that her boyfriend was a bit of a womanizer, Polk broke off their engagement. On August 11, two weeks after Bob and Margaret’s breakup, papers announced that Robert Morgan was engaged to Patricia Jane Huckins. He had met Patricia in Texas three weeks prior.
No longer part of the government’s morale boosting efforts, Polk resumed her education. She majored in chemistry and biology at Southwestern at Memphis, now Rhodes College. She then worked as an airline stewardess for a few years.
After the war, the B-17 Flying Fortress called The Memphis Belle was sent to the scrap yard. The city of Memphis bought it for $350 and put it on display at the National Guard Armory. It was later moved to Mud Island. 60 Years of exposure to the elements took their toll. The bomber was eventually reclaimed by the air force and restored. It was moved to the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton Ohio.
The plane was the subject of both a 1943 documentary directed by William Wyler and a 1990 Hollywood film produced by Catherine Wyler, his daughter. Both films are called "The Memphis Belle."
KENAN
A statue of Margaret Polk, Rhodes College class of 1943, was erected in Overton Park in 2011. You can go over and see Margaret looking skyward with her hand shielding her eyes, anxiously waiting for her pilot to return from war.
And that’s how a Rhodes College student became the center of one of the most publicized romances of World War II and the inspiration for one of the most famous planes in history.
THE END