DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS 2004

Captain Ray H. Littge

Captain Ray H. Littge

Captain Ray H. Littge, class of 1942, is best remembered as Missouri’s top-ranking fighter pilot and one of the foremost in the nation during World War II with an impressive 91 missions and 400 combat hours. He is credited with 23 ½ enemy planes destroyed, 10 ½ in the air and 13 on the ground. Littge is also credited with shooting down three "buzz bombs" over the English Channel, although those were not included in a pilot’s total. Buzz bombs were the common name for Hitler’s V-2 rocket bombs which were used to terrorize London. That score made him the third top pilot in his group, the top ace from the state of Missouri and one of the best fighter pilots in the nation.

His exploits earned him the Distinguished Service Cross (second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor) "For extraordinary heroism in action"; the Silver Star for gallantry in action on two specific occasions; the Distinguished Flying Cross; and the Air Medal with 15 clusters and five Battle Stars.

On one combat mission, he was shot down over German-occupied France by enemy anti-aircraft fire, but he evaded capture, connected with the French Underground, and returned to England 12 days later.

He scored his first aerial combat victory on his 46th mission, flown on Nov. 27, 1944, engaging two ME-109’s in two separate dogfights and shooting them both down.

His Silver Star was received following his group’s heroic defense of its aerodrome near Asch, Belgium, where they had been moved to support ground troops during the Battle of the Bulge.

On New Year’s Day, the Lutwaffe, taking advantage of bad weather, sent 115 Fulke Wolff 190s (dive bombers) to destroy the 487th Mustang Squadron on the ground. Littge was one of only 12 pilots to get his plan off the ground, shooting as they took off.

Although they were outnumbered 10 to one and although most of the battle took place less than 3,000 feet off the ground, the Americans did not lose a single plane. They managed to destroy 23 of the German aircraft before the invaders turned and ran. Later, Littge was also one of the few pilots to engage and defeat an ME-262, an experimental German aircraft soon to be known as a jet.

He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism in the assault on the Plattling Aerodrome. During the attack, in which he was leading the Red Flight, his plane’s oil tank was hit with most of the oil draining away, one of his guns was shot out, two electrical lines and the manifold pressure lines were hit and one-and-a-half feet of his left wing tip was lost to flak. Littge still made seven passes, destroying six aircraft on the ground and raising his total to 23 ½ victories.

Capt. Littge was born on October 18, 1923, at Altenburg, the son of the late Henry and Martha (Ahner) Littge. He attended Altenburg High School 2 years and was graduated in May, 1942, from Perryville High School. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps on July 1, 1942, and on Jan. 19, 1943, was inducted at Jefferson Barracks. Littge was commissioned second lieutenant on December 5, 1943. He was sent overseas on May 3, 1944, and assigned to the Eighth Fighter Group based in England, later flying out of fields in Belgium and Holland.

Following his outstanding service overseas, Littge returned home on May 7, 1945, and served at Santa Ana, California; Perrin Field, Texas; Long Beach, California; Memphis, Tennessee; and Muroc, California, where he flew F-80 jet planes.
He was married to Helen Fischer on November 25, 1945, and they had two sons, George Preddy Littge and Capt. Ray H. Littge, II (deceased). Ray II was killed stateside in a McDonnell F-4 Phantom jet while in the line of duty.

Captain Littge was discharged in December, 1946, but was called back to service on March 17, 1947, to Dow Air Base in Bangor, Maine, to train with a jet fighter group. In November, 1948, he was sent to Hamilton Field, California, where he served as operations officer and taught pilots to fly the F-84 Thunderjet.

He was killed on May 20, 1949, near Maupin, Oregon, while enroute to participate in an air show at Coulee Dam, Washington. A faulty oxygen supply is thought to have caused the death of the 25-year old pilot.

Mr. Beaufort C. Katt

Mr. Beaufort C. Katt

Mr. Beaufort C. Katt, class of 1949, is currently the Deputy Director of the State Emergency Management Agency in Jefferson City, Missouri, a position he has held since 1993. In this position, he assisted in the state’s recovery following the devastating flood of 1993. This recovery contained many visible programs, including the successful "buyout" of private residences damaged by the flood. The policies and procedures which were developed to make the program successful are credited to Mr. Katt. As a result of this work, James Lee Witt, then the director of FEMA, awarded the State of Missouri with that agencies’ Excellence in Government recognition. The Missouri buyout program was and continues to be hailed as a "model for the nation."

In 2001, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Service, National Weather Service (NWS) presented the State of Missouri Emergency Management Agency, and Mr. Katt personally, with their prestigious Mark Trail Award for the improvement the agency coordinated in severe weather radio coverage. It is a very rare occurrence for this award to be presented to an individual. This award was made because Mr. Katt managed and coordinated the placement of National Weather Radio receivers all across the state.

Mr. Katt’s service to country included thirty years with the United States Army. He was drafted in 1952 and completed his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was later selected for leadership training and gained entrance to the Engineer Officer Candidate School at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, where he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in 1953. By April, 1960, Mr. Katt had successfully completed the rigorous and highly competitive process to be awarded the grade of Captain.

During his Army career, assignments included duty overseas in Korea, Germany, Thailand and South Viet Nam. Much of his early career was as a commissioned officer with troops in the field as a commanding officer of units in Korea, Germany and the United States. His service has also included a top-secret sensitive NATO assignment and command of a battalion in Germany and command of a battalion in the combat areas of Viet Nam (which included participation in the incursion into Cambodia in May, 1970). From Viet Nam, he was assigned to the office of Personnel Operations in Washington, D.C., as an assignment officer for engineer Lt. Colonels (the first non-graduate of West Point to hold this assignment). From this assignment, he was selected to attend the Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, the Senior Service School of the U.S. Army. After a tour as an instructor at the U.S. Army Command and Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, he was back at Ft. Leonard Wood as the Director of Training, followed by duties as the Chief of Staff, the position he held until retirement in 1982.

Among Mr. Katt’s military awards and decorations are:
The U.S. Army’s 2nd highest award for meritorious service, The Legion of Merit, which was awarded twice – once for service in the Republic of South Viet Nam and upon his retirement in 1982.
The Bronze Star - 3 awards, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Award (5 awards), the U.S. Army Air Medal for flights in hostile territory; recognition of 18 months service in a combat zone (12 months Viet Nam and 6 months Korean Conflict).
The Silver de Fleury Award – a special award from the U.S. Army Chief of Engineers for significant contributions to the Corps of Engineers.
Campaign ribbons for Viet Nam, Korea and the United Nations.

Following his retirement from the Army, he and his wife, Norma, moved to Columbia, Missouri, where he was employed by Stephens College and served as the Vice President for Business Affairs. In December, 1987, he became the assistant Director of the Division of Design and Construction for the State of Missouri. In this position, responsibilities included the day-to-day maintenance and repair of numerous state buildings including the Capital and Governors Mansion. In 1993 he became the Deputy Director of the State Emergency Management Agency, the position he still holds today.

Mr. Katt was born to the late Theodore and Esther Katt and was raised in the Bois Brule area. He and his wife, Norma, have one son and two grandchildren.

Mr. Kenneth Biehle

Mr. Kenneth Biehle

Mr. Kenneth Biehle, class of 1954, retired in 1995 from a 35-year flying career as an Air Force pilot and commercial pilot.

He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant after graduating from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado in 1960. He went on to attend pilot training at Bainbridge Air Base in Georgia and became an Air Force pilot, an accomplishment that less than half of the Air Force Academy graduates attain.

From then until 1980 he served as an officer and pilot with the United States Air Force. He participated in airlift support missions for operations in Belgian Congo, Berlin, Dominican Republic and Southeast Asia. Other missions included air refueling in support of tactical air operations in Southeast Asia. His staff duties included a variety of positions ranging from squadron to major air command level.

Among Mr. Biehle’s military decorations are the Viet Nam Service Ribbon, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Air Medal. He completed 20 years in the Air Force in 1980 and retired a Lieutenant Colonel.
From 1980 to 1985, Mr. Biehle worked as a corporate pilot with Wedge International Holdings in Houston, Texas. He provided air travel support for company personnel throughout the U.S., Western Europe and the Middle East.

Mr. Biehle worked as a cargo pilot from 1985 to 1995 with the Southern Air Transport in Miami, Florida. His job primarily consisted of airlift flights supporting Department of Defense contracts in the U.S., Europe, Korea and Japan. He also performed individual flights as varied as famine relief in the Sudan, delivering oil well fire-fighting equipment to southern Argentina and airlifting whales for Sea World.

Throughout his 35-year flying career, change was a constant as he and his family lived in ten different locations in the U.S. His military service as an Air Force pilot and his career as a commercial pilot has taken Mr. Biehle to more than fifty countries and many islands in between.

From 1995 to the present, Mr. Biehle provides volunteer services to his church and the American Cancer Society. He was recently featured in an article in The Press-Tribune of Roseville, California, for assisting and transporting cancer patients to the hospital for treatment.

Mr. Biehle was born on March 26, 1936, to the late Herbert and Irma (Ernst) Biehle of Biehle, Missouri. He attended grade school at St. Maurus School in Biehle from 1942 to 1950 and graduated from Perryville High School in 1954. Mr. Biehle and his wife, Carol Kitchen of Cushing, Oklahoma, have three sons, Jeff, Kyle and Brian, and five grandchildren.

During all his travels, he was able to maintain a stable home life with a very capable and supportive wife. He was also able to perform the usual father-functions as coach, scout leader, etc. during his sons’ formative years. He enjoys outdoor activities and among other things, reached the summit of Mount Fuji in Japan in 1995, and Mt. Whitney in California in 1997. Since retiring in 1995, he has twice canoed the Current River in Missouri, the 85 miles from Montauk State Park to Van Buren, along with two of his sons.