Earl T. Bates, age 77, husband of Harper (Lamed) Bates, of Benbrook, Texas passed away March 24, 1999 in a Fort Worth Hospital. Earl was born December 28, 1921 in Vassar, Michigan and grew up on the family farm. He served in the Flying Tiger's unit of the 14th United States Air Force in China during World War II. He was shot down behind enemy lines and survived for several days with the help of a small Chinese boy, who helped him find his way back across the battlefront into friendly territory. He was with the peacekeeping troops after World War II in Guam, and later was stationed at Altus, Oklahoma and then at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas. This was where he met and married Harper Lamed on July 29, 1950. Their marriage was blessed with two children, a daughter, Brenda Bates Carlton Avery, and a son, Tommy Bates, who was tragically killed in an automobile accident in November 1974, when he was 18 years old.

Earls' wife, Harper (Lamed) Bates, the daughter of Waiter A. and Elizabeth (Jackson) Larned, attended Marvin's Chapel School and Rock Church. She grew up to become a teacher and taught school for 40 years, some of these in the Benbrook area. Earl is survived by his wife, Harper Lamed Bates, his daughter, Brenda Bates Carlton Avery and her husband Lamar Avery, his two granddaughters, Jennifer Reid, Christy Carlton, and a grandson, Brent Carlton, and his three brothers, Bob, Grant, Don, and one sister, Margaret.

On Saturday, May 29, 1999 Brenda and Lamar Avery with Harper and family attended a special Memorial Day service at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. to honor Earl and 134 other members of the Flying Tiger's who were deceased in the 1998-1999 year. It was a fitting honor for Earl Bates and others who assisted our country during the dark days of World War II.

Earl enjoyed a good, joke, always had fun wherever he went, and laughed about his first time at Rock Church Homecoming when someone ask him, "Did you know that Harper Larned married a Yankee?" We have to say Earl was a delightful "Yankee," and was soon adopted by the Rock Church families. And who knows, maybe he is still fighting with the Flying Tigers in the sky.

1999 Hood County Texas Genealogical Society