Henry Harley “Hap” Arnold was a military hero.
An aviation pioneer in the early 20th century, Arnold eventually became the only five-star general in U.S. Air Force history.
He also was a case study in the rigors emotional and physical stress put on the human body, said Dik Daso, Ph. D., curator of modern military at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
Arnold was one of the forerunners of military aviation and his leadership was crucial in the U.S. becoming the world’s leader in air power. As the commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War Two, he helped the Allied Forces win the greatest conflict in human history, Dr. Daso said.
But along with his lifestyle came significant stress, said Dr. Daso, who spoke at UNMC on Tuesday.
“Early aviation was extremely stressful,” Dr. Daso said. “The survival rate for early military aviators was 50 percent.”
Arnold had a brush with death in 1912 when a plane he was flying near Fort Riley, Kan., went into a flat spin and nearly crashed, Dr. Daso said.
The close call left Arnold shaken and he stopped flying for several years.
Even though he was not flying, Arnold continued to work his way up the ranks and found himself in the upper tier of military leadership in time for World War II, Dr. Daso said.
While negotiating with work stress, Arnold also experienced trouble on the home front, including the losses of a young son and then later his own mother, with whom he was very close.
Stress began taking its toll on Arnold at a young age, Dr. Daso said.
Starting in his twenties, Arnold dealt with ulcers and he prematurely lost most of his hair. What hair he did have turned white, Dr. Daso said.
Arnold also smoked, drank and ate poorly, Dr. Daso said.
During the World War Two, Arnold experienced several heart attacks, which eventually forced the military to restrict his duty, Dr. Daso said.
Arnold retired from the service in 1949 and died of a heart attack on Jan. 15, 1950 at age 63.
“He lived with a tremendous amount of stress and it really took its toll,” Dr. Daso said of Arnold.
Before he retired from the military, however, Arnold called on the military to collect all the different types of aircraft they could find, Dr. Daso said.
This collection would eventually become part of the Smithsonian’s collection that Dr. Daso now maintains.
“It’s his museum. I’m here talking to you today because of Gen. Arnold,” said Dr. Daso, whose appearance at UNMC was part of the Smithsonian Lecture series, which is offered to UNMC and Nebraska Medical Center employees through a partnership with the Durham Western Heritage Museum.
More Smithsonian lectures are expected in the future. Watch the UNMC Today announcements for details.