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KSYS Ch 8 Medford KFTS Ch 22 Klamath Falls
Cable Ch 21 Jackson County
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Local Productions of SOPTV

HOMETOWN HEROES: Johnny Hampshire

The Flying Tigers air squadron.

Johnny Hampshire HOMETOWN HEROES: The Johnny Hampshire Story is a 30-minute documentary commemorating Grants Pass native Johnny Hampshire, a Flying Tiger and war hero.

Captain John F. Hampshire joined the Flying Tigers as a member of the Untied States Army Air Corps in the fall 1942. He was shot down and killed in China at the age of twenty-four after destroying a record number of enemy aircraft within a few short months. He has been listed as the number two ace in that field.

This documentary features Johnny's life from his boyhood in Grants Pass to his dramatic last air battle. Through his life we are able to see a time in American history as it relates to one brave young man and the community he grew up in.

HOMETOWN HEROES: The Johnny Hampshire Story includes interviews with some of the Flying Tigers who flew with Johnny including Col. Rich Richardson, Col. Joe Griffin, and General John Alison. There are interviews with Merril McPeak, Ret. General and Chief of Staff for the Air Force; Ester Bristol, writer at the Grants Pass Courier during World War II; and Shirley Copeland, a childhood friend of Johnny.

This documentary is the result of an enormous amount of work from Johnny's 1936 graduating class. Their efforts have also established a Hampshire Scholarship for Grants Pass High School students, helped bring about the renaming of the Grants Pass Airport to Hampshire Field, and erected a monument for Johnny in Hillcrest Memorial Park.

1 VIDEOCASSETTE: UNABRIDGED

A production of Southern Oregon Public Television