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This Day in History – June 10, 1969 – The X-15 gets a place in history

10 June 1969: The U.S. Air Force donated the first North American Aviation X-15, serial number 56-6670, to the Smithsonian Institution for display at the National Air and Space Museum. The first of three X-15A hypersonic research rocketplanes built by North American for the Air Force and the National Advisory Committee (NACA, the predecessor of NASA), 56-6670 made the first glide flight and

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Lake, Darrell E.

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  • Lake, Darrell E.

Darrell E. Lake

Preferred Name: Darrell
Date of Birth: December 8, 1934
Highest Military Grade: 0-5 – Lieutenant Colonel
Hometown: Merrill, IA
Headed West Date: March 2, 2022
Biography
Pilot Information
Headed West
Album

Darrell always loved airplanes. He spent a lot of time reading about them and making balsa wood models to fly. He earned his private pilot license during his college years and became an owner of two aircraft and spent great times flying.

In 1957, with a draft notice forthcoming, he joined the Iowa Air National Guard as a military pilot trainee and received his wings in 1958. He flew T-33, F-84, RF-84, F-100C with the Air Guard, flying the F-100C for 174 combat missions when the Guard was called up for a year in Vietnam during the Pueblo Crisis. After 28 years he retired from the Guard in 1994 as a Lt. Col.

The other great love (besides his wife and family) was his love of his dance orchestra. His father started a small four-piece group in the late 1930s which Darrell joined when in high school. When his dad passed away in 1986, Darrell took over the Mearl Lake Orchestra (keeping the name in honor of his dad) and expanded it up to 11 pieces. In the band’s 70+ years of existence, it has performed a myriad of events, even for the President of the United States during one of his visits to Sioux City. Memories never to be forgotten.

Units Assigned

  • 1957 Joined IAANG
  • 1968-1969 174th Tactical Fighter Squadron/185th Tactical Fighter Wing, IAANG “Phu Cat Bats”, Phu Cat AB, Vietnam (F-100C – 174 combat missions)
  • 1994 Retired USAF

 

Awards & Decorations

Flight Info

T-33
F-84
RF-84
F-100C

Military & Civilian Education

Civilian Education:

  • 1952 Merrill H.S.
  • 1956 BA, Westmar College
  • MA/Music Education, University of South Dakota

Darrell E. Lake, LtCol USAF (Ret), “Headed West” on March 2, 2022.

Darrell E. Lake, 87, of Sioux City passed away Wednesday, March 2, 2022, after a life well spent.

Darrell was born on Dec. 8, 1934, in Merrill, the only son of Frieda and Mearl Lake. He grew up on the Lake family farm just outside of town with his father, mother, and grandparents Grant and Mable Lake. They had a dairy operation along with raising the traditional crops of corn, beans, and oats. They survived the last of the depression and the rationing of the war years, never having to go hungry because they raised everything they needed right at home.

Darrell graduated from Merrill high school in 1952 and attended Westmar College in Le Mars, graduating in 1956 and later received a Master’s degree in music education from the University of South Dakota. He taught school as an instrumental music director for 36 years, starting in Sergeant Bluff and advancing to the Sioux City public schools until retirement.

During his time at Westmar College, he met Joyce Thiele whom he married in June 1958. They moved to Sioux City where the couple had two daughters, Janna and Deanna, and later adopted a son, Douglas. They lost Deanna at the age of four, a low spot in their lives. Joyce and Darrell celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary in June of 2021.

Darrell always loved airplanes. He spent a lot of time reading about them and making balsa wood models to fly. He earned his private pilot license during his college years and became an owner of two aircrafts and spent great times flying. In 1957, with a draft notice forthcoming, he joined the Iowa Air National Guard as a military pilot trainee and received his wings in 1958. He flew T-33, F-84, RF-84, and F-100C with the Air Guard, flying the F-100C for 174 combat missions when the Guard was called up for a year in Vietnam during the Pueblo Crisis. After 28 years he retired from the Guard in 1994 as a Lt. Col.

The other great love (besides his wife and family) was his love of his dance orchestra. His father started a small four-piece group in the late 1930s which Darrell joined when in high school. When his dad passed away in 1986, Darrell took over the Mearl Lake Orchestra (keeping the name in honor of his dad) and expanded it up to 11 pieces. In the band’s 70+ years of existence, it has performed a myriad of events, even for the President of the United States during one of his visits to Sioux City. Memories never to be forgotten.

He is survived by his wife, Joyce; daughter Janna and her husband Mark; granddaughter Jerica and her husband Tunji; and son, Douglas and his wife Yolanda, and their children Eviana, Sofia, Camila, and Arath.

Service will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at Grace United Methodist Church. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at church. Burial with military honors will be at Hillside Cemetery in Merrill, Iowa. Meyer Brothers Morningside Chapel is handling the arrangements. Online condolences may be made to www.meyerbroschapels.com.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association at https://act.alz.org/ or 225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl 17, Chicago, IL 60601.

Lake, Darrell
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