Rea Hagenbuch

It appears that Rea was an accident as his parents were not yet married when he was conceived, he had 3 older half brothers. He attended Lawrenceville School in New Jersey prior to Princeton class of 1909. He was involved in sports and was captain of the basketball team despite being 5’ 4” tall. It appears that he never actually graduated as he was apparently thrown out for his participation in a beer bust. At some point during this time his father went broke after making a bad stock choice and dispensing the advice to several friends, after the stock collapsed he paid the other investors out of his own pocket. I am not sure exactly what his studies involved other that I know he had his teaching credential and was a surveyor. After he left Princeton he headed out to Alaska where he surveyed one of the railroads. In 1910 he was in Seattle where he was robbed of all his money, checking the local paper he found a teaching job in Northeastern Nevada that would pay his rail fare. While teaching he started to buy small ranches and buying cattle. Around 1916 he was married and had a daughter with a local girl which ended in divorce and the baby was given up for adoption.  In 1917 he decided that he would be a pilot, I assume to escape things at home. You already have the little article about his training. At one point he crashed and hurt his foot, while recuperating in Devon he met my grandmother, I have many of the love letters that he wrote during their courtship. He was assigned to the British 74 Squadron where he flew Se5a’s. Around October 1918 his plane was hit by ground fire when he dove to low in an attempt to shoot down a German observation balloon and he was captured. I don’t think he was ever credited with shooting anything down and only flew in combat for a short period. I think in November he was released and made his way back to my grandmother’s place where he offered to marry her. Her father told him to go back to the USA and get his affairs in order and then return, apparently he thought that he would probably never see him again. Rea went home and then tried to return but there was no way to get on a ship due to the war, he ended up stoking coal on a ship in order to get passage back. Once there he married Winifred Jones and brought her home to the ranch where they raised 2 daughters and cattle.

REA'S DAD

Ted Harwood II