To a young widow at a quiet White House ceremony last week, President Eisenhower handed a letter sealed in a pale green envelope and expressing deep personal feeling: "To the President of the U.S. in 1972-76: The recent untimely death of a fine young American—Captain Iven C. Kincheloe Jr., U.S. Air Force-brought a real sense of loss to our nation. In recognition of his many exemplary deeds as a pioneer in advanced aeronautic research, I am making a request which seeks to express, in a small measure, the gratitude of the nation. I request that you consider the merits of his young son [19-month-old Iven C. Kincheloe III] for appointment as a cadet in the U.S.A.F. Academy at Colorado Springs, Colo. His rich inheritance stems from a father whose superb technical skill and selfless dedication to country were demonstrated in outstanding fashion in his perilous duties as an experimental flight test pilot . . ."
The letter-was written, as the President said, to honor the memory of Iven Kincheloe, a Korean war ace (ten kills) who became a famed test pilot. In 1956 he flew an experimental Bell X-2 to a record-breaking 126,000 ft. Last summer (two weeks before his second child, a girl, was born), during preparations for flying the first manned U.S. space plane, the X-15, blond, handsome Iven Kincheloe, 30, died in an F-IO4 crash. His last words, radioed to the control tower at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.: "Edwards, Mayday seven seven two—bailing out."
-Ike's letter was similar to that written on Dec. 17, 1941 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ("To the President of the U.S. in 1956"). F.D.R.'s letter asked consideration of a West Point appointment for the infant son of Air Corps Captain Colin P. Kelly, Jr., who was shot down early in the war over the Philippines after a bombing attack on a Japanese warship. Said the White House last week: Colin P. Kelly III, 18, a student at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., has not yet decided whether he will take an appointment, although President Eisenhower is ready to follow the boy's wishes.