The Jacob and Donald A. De Haven Memorial Foundation for Youth Advocacy and Justice

Saturday, May 2, 2009

FROM THE PAPERS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 1774 - 1789

It reads as follows:

"In Council

Philadelphia, October 10th, 1778

Sir,

The State of Pennsylvania has for some time past, supported a factory for the making of arms, which has been conducted with care and attention by Mr. Peter De Haven and Mr. Benjamin Rittenhouse. As there is no fund provided for the support of this factory, Council has had it under consideration to discontinue it, but William Henry Esquire of Lancaster has lately proposed to the State to undertake the repairing a great number of arms belonging to the Continent, which the Council apprehend it would be improper for them to do. The Council think it proper however, before they discharge the workmen to mention to Congress its present situation; conceiving it probable that they may think it their interest to take this factory into their employ, upon such terms as shall be reasonable. The workmen will be continued a few days until the determination of Congress herein shall be had.

I am with great respect,

Sir, Your very humble servant

George Bryan, Vice President

To the Honorable Henry Laurens, Esq., President of Congress"

Robert M. De Haven

Robert M. De Haven

Robert Marshall De Haven was born on January 13, 1922 in San Diego, California. He attended Washington and Lee University, but left to join the Army Air Corps in February 1942. Earning his pilot's wings, he was assigned to P-40 training in Florida. In February 1943, he was sent to Hawaii, then on to Port Moresby, New Guinea via Australia in May. He was assigned to the P-40 equipped 7th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Group at Dobodura. Lt. De Haven scored his first victory on 14 July 1943 and became an Ace on 10 December. He participated in the offensives which took Buna, Lae, Markham Valley, Hollandia and Biak Islands. During these battles, he downed a total of 10 enemy aircraft with the P-40, one of the highest P-40 scores for USAAF pilots, other than AVG pilots. De Haven liked the P-40, surprisingly, even preferring it to the highly acclaimed P-38. In Eric Bergerud's Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific, De Haven explains: After training I requested duty in the Pacific and I requested being posted to a P-40 squadron and both wishes were granted. This was early in 1943 and most pilots already desired more advanced types and some thought my decision a mistake. Yet I had been inspired by the deeds of the Flying Tigers. We had also heard accounts that the P-38 was difficult to bail out of because of its twin-boom tail and that it was difficult when flying with one engine. I also knew that P-38s were still rare in the theater and I wanted to get into the war as soon as possible. That wish, too, was granted. I never regretted the choice. If you flew wisely, the P-40 was a very capable aircraft. In many conditions, it could outturn a P-38, a fact that some pilots didn't realize when they made the transition between the two aircraft. The P-40 kept me alive and allowed me to accomplish my mission. The real problem with it was lack of range. As we pushed the Japanese back, P-40 pilots were slowly left out of the war. So when I moved to P-38s, an excellent aircraft, I did so not because I believed that the P-40 was an inferior fighter, but because I knew the P-38 would allow us to reach the enemy. I was a fighter pilot and that was what I was supposed to do. The 7th Fighter Squadron transitioned to P-38s in July-September 1944 for the Philippine invasion. On 27 October, leading the 7th Squadron, De Haven became one of the first AAF fighters to "return" to the Philippines. Within seven days he acquired four more victories. After leave in the U.S. he rejoined the 49th at Lingayen as group operations officer, serving into the occupation of Japan. Following World War II, De Haven joined the Hughes Aircraft Company as an engineering test pilot and personal pilot to Howard Hughes. Eventually he became an executive of the firm and manager of the Flight Test Division for over 30 years. He was also elected a Fellow in the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and served as President of the American Fighter Aces Association. TALLY RECORD: 14 Confirmed and one Damaged. DECORATIONS: Silver Star with one Oak Leaf Cluster. Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 OLCs. Air Medal with 13 OLCs, and the Presidential Unit Citation with one OLC.

U. S. S. DE HAVEN (DD-727)

U. S. S. DE HAVEN (DD-727)

The United States Ship De Haven (DD-727) was commissioned in March 1944 as the second destroyer to bear the name of Lt.Cdr. E.J. De Haven. The first De Haven (DD-469) was destroyed as a result of enemy action in 1943. The present De Haven saw action in WWII in operations at Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. De Haven was stationed in the Far East when South Korea was invaded in 1950 and assisted in evacuating American Nationals from Inchon on the 2nd day of the war. Her crew received the honored Navy Unit Commendation Medal for action in Inchon in support of amphibious operations. Throughout the Korean War the De Haven completed 4 combat tours and participated in carrier operations, amphibious support, coastal blockade, and naval gunfire support of troops at the front. Since the Korean conflict, De Haven continued to play an active role in Pacific Fleet operations. She participated in Operation Hardtack I, nuclear detonations in the South Pacific during Summer of 1958. She was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for operations in the Que mon-Matsu area, the Taiwan Straits and Vietnam. De Haven participated in carrier task group operations and performed radar picket and surveillance tracking assignments throughout the Western Pacific. During the Vietnam crisis, De Haven served as a Naval Gunfire Support Unit in I, II, III, IV Corps and Rung Saat Special areas. She served as a Search and Rescue Unit on North SAR Station, on Sea Dragon operations off the coast of North Vietnam, and as rescue destroyer on attack carrier operations. During this time, De Haven fired over 22,000 naval gunfire rounds in support of friendly troops and in North Vietnam. The ship also participated in the rescue of four pilots downed off the coast of North Vietnam. As part of Destroyer Squadron 9, De Haven was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for her service. De Haven was decommissioned as a U.S. vessel, was turned over to the South Korean government, and began new service protecting the citizens and shores of South Korea, christened as the ROKN Inchon DD-98 as of December of 1973. Details of her service can be found at www.ussdehaven.org.

Helen De Haven

Helen De Haven sits amid officers and sailors during the launching ceremony for the U.S.S. De Haven (DD-727), where she will christen the vessel in the name of her grandfather Lieutenant Commander Edwin Jesse De Haven. This will be the second time she will christen a United States Ship in her granfather's name- the first, DD-469, was destroyed by Japanese dive bombers not long after it began service. The christening of the DD-727 took place on January 9, 1944, and it and and each of its crew over its 30 years of service to the United States served with honor.

Lt.Cdr. Edwin Jesse De Haven

Lt.Cdr. Edwin Jesse De Haven

Born in Pennsylvania in 1819, Edwin Jesse De Haven was appointed acting midshipman at the age of ten, and five years later was advanced to passed midshipman. In 1839, he was assigned to USS Vincennes, flagship of Captain Charles Wilkes, and took part in explorations of the Antarctic and islands throughout the Pacific. In the mid-1840s, De Haven assumed command of USS Peacock and proceed to the waters of the North Pacific, surveying the coasts of North America and in the Puget Sound area. On 18 July 1840, Peacock was wrecked in the treacherous waters at the entrance of the Columbia River, her crew being rescued by USS Oregon. De Haven remained on board Oregon until the termination of the expedition in June 1842. During the war with Mexico, Lieutenant De Haven commanded USS Somers, which captured the Mexican schooner Creole. In 1850, De Haven assumed command of the Grinnell Rescue Expedition in an effort to find Sir John Franklin’s exploring party, reported lost somewhere in Greenland. Both of Commodore De Haven’s ships, Rescue and Advance, became locked in an ice flow west of Greenland and drifted about for nine months. When they did locate the area where Franklin had camped, they found traces of the campsite but no remains of his party. While searching for Franklin’s party, De Haven discovered an island that he named Grinnell Land in honor of the rescue party’s sponsor. Lieutenant De Haven was highly commended for his painstaking achievements during his search for the ill-fated explorers and for the valuable scientific data he collected in connection with the winds and currents of the Arctic regions. After serving for nine years in the Coastal Survey Service, De Haven was placed on the retirement list in 1862—as lieutenant commander, the first US Navy officer promoted to that rank in retirement—because of ill health. He died at his home at Philadelphia 1 May 1865 and is buried in Christ Church Burial Ground.

Silvery Waters

Silvery Waters

This painting, Silvery Waters, is merely one of 134 currently known works of art by Franklin B. De Haven. Painted in 1916, it is currently on display at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. Born in Bluffton, Indiana, Franklin De Haven arrived in New York in 1886. He studied with George Henry Smillie, who had achieved the status of "The American Barbizon," which would account for the latter-day Hudson River School influences and an intense Barbizon or, perhaps more specifically, Tonalist sensability in much of De Haven's work. Many of his works can be found at the Smithsonian Institute on display at the American Art Museum.

The Seal of Evert In den Hoven

The Seal of Evert In den Hoven

The Seal of Evert In den Hoven - An image taken from an impression of the Seal of Evert In den Hoven (circa. 1698) as found in the De Haven papers by Helen Martha Wright. A statement below it reads thusly: "A manuscript signed by Evert In den Hoven is sealed with his seal, a very rare thing. We call it a a Hausmarke here. They are considered to be even older than most Coats of Arms, and are said to have taken their origin from the time we were all heathen in Europe." From a letter dated March 25, 1938 by Countess Ada Von Alten Hardenberg, descendent of Peter De Haven II. This seal appears to be imprinted on the will of Peter De Haven 1st.

Gloria De Haven

Gloria De Haven

Gloria De Haven is the daughter of actor-director-producer Carter De Haven and actress Flora Parker De Haven. She began her career as a child actor with a bit part in Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936). She was signed to a contract with MGM Studios, where she had featured roles in such films as The Thin Man Goes Home (1944) and Summer Stock (1950). She portrayed her mother in the Fred Astaire film Three Little Words (1950). De Haven also appeared as a regular in television series' As the World Turns, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and Ryan's Hope. She has guest starred in television series as Robert Montgomery Presents, The Rifleman, Wagon Train, The Lloyd Bridges Show, Marcus Welby, M.D., Gunsmoke, Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart, The Love Boat, Highway to Heaven, Murder, She Wrote and Touched By An Angel. Her latest film work includes starring opposite the late screen legends Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in the 1997 feature film "Out to Sea." Gloria has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard.