George Fairbanks

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Obituary- Fairbanks, George

NAVY VET KILLED IN PASTURE TRAGEDY
Spill with Horse Is Fatal for One of 6 Brothers, All Tars.
George Fairbanks, one of the six sailor sons of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Fairbanks who got nation-wide notice in World War II, was killed Nov. 27 in an alfalfa field west of Emmett.
The horse which he was riding apparently at a gallop, stepped into a gopher hole to turn end over end – crushing the lad’s body and fracturing his skull.
The tragedy occurred near Emery Johnson’s ranch, on the old Phil Joyce quarter-section, a “spread” which the ex-seaman had purchased out of the savings from his service pay.
Just as it had four millions who responded to the colors, the threat of war had meant risks for the young Cross Creek cowman. But death in combat had not been his lot.
Death just as violent was reserved for him back home, the day before Thanksgiving, in the serenity of the wide-open spaces he always cherished. The tragedy was [missing part] pastoral scene that had promised all a farm-reared youth could ask of the future – a place he could call his own, in the peace and solitude of God’s outdoors. George would have said that it just couldn’t happen there.
He had even bought a horse for himself – a big, black stallion full of ginger and throbbing vitality. Prouder than he could ever say of his mount, the young ex-serviceman was never happier than when wearing his boots and spurs and racing down a draw to round up a string of mares. This was the job he loved and the job he was doing the last hour of his life.
The body was discovered by a passing motorist as it lay near a fence on the road leading to the bombing range. The stallion stood a hundred yards away, virtually unharmed. It was shortly before noon when the stranger notified a neighbor, Fritz Johnson.
George’s death is the second to be recorded among members of the naval sextette in his family. The first, a gold star sacrifice, was that of his brother, Douglas, who gave his life in the Battle of the Casper Straits, near Java.
At the special request of Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy, Mother Fairbanks traveled to San Francisco in the summer on 1942 to christen the USS Chickasaw.
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