Dayton M. Larsen, Bemidji, recently stepped from the rank of cadet into the rank of the army air force fighter pilot, graduating from Eagle Pass field, Eagle Pass, Tex.
Lt. Dayton Larsen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Leander Larsen of Bemidji, once an enlisted man, was an unofficial gunner and bombardier on Flying Fortresses when he was a ground crew armorer of the 19th bombardment group. Lieutenant Larsen accompanied the famous organization as it was “pushed all over the South Pacific” before there were sufficient planes and men available to man them. When the group disbanded, he returned to the United States to enter as an aviation cadet, and to learn to “dish it out” as well as “take it.”
He was married to Miss Audrey Okvist of Washington, D.C. on Feb 14th at the Bethel Lutheran church in Bemidji when he was home on leave. (Northland Times, Feb 25, 1944)