Montgomery's Dannelly Field was named after native of Evergreen, Ala.

Rear Admiral George Dominic Murray

From the July 1, 1943 edition of The Evergreen Courant:

Dedication Will Honor Former Evergreen Boy

The dedication and christening of Dannelly Field Thursday afternoon, July 1, beginning at 2:30 p.m., is sponsored by the County Board of Revenue, the Montgomery City Commission and the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce.

Dannelly Field, located seven miles out the Selma Highway will be Montgomery’s new municipal airport after the close of the war, and the ceremonies Thursday mark the resumption of Eastern Air Line service into Montgomery after a lapse of more than two months.

Mayor Cyrus B. Brown has announced that the public is cordially invited to attend the 50-minute program which will honor Ensign Clarence M. Dannelly Jr., son of C.M. Dannelly, County Superintendent of Education, who was killed in an airplane crash in Pensacola Bay on Dec. 17, 1940.

Ensign Dannelly, born Feb. 3, 1916 at Evergreen, Ala., was reared in Montgomery and attended public school. He was valedictorian of his graduating class at Winchester High School, Winchester, Ky. He attended Birmingham Southern College and was graduated from the University of Alabama School of Engineering was a B.S. degree in aeronautical engineering. He won his wins at Pensacola Naval Air Station, and served in the Canal Zone, Ecuador, Columbia and as an instructor at the Charleston Naval Station and the Pensacola Station.

The program will open with music by the Maxwell Field Band, under the direction of Warrant Officer Frank Wierick. Mayor Cyrus B. Brown will preside at the exercises, and the invocation will be delivered by Dr. Donald C. MacGuire.

Dean Davis Principal Speaker

Remarks will be made by J.M. Jenkins, Chairman of the County Board of Revenue; W.C. Boman, President of the Chamber of Commerce; S.D. Wilkes, Division Manager of the Eastern Air Lines; and Brig. Gen. T.J. Hanley Jr., commanding general, Army Air Forces Southeast Training Center.

The program will feature an address by Dean George J. Davis of the College of Engineering, University of Alabama, who will pay tribute to Ensign Dannelly. Rear Adm. G.D. Murray, commandant, Pensacola Naval Air Station, at which young Dannelly was stationed at the time of his accident, will also address the guests.

Dr. C.M. Dannelly will be introduced and Mrs. Dannelly, mother of young Dannelly, will christen the field by breaking a bottle of Montgomery water on the runway.

Following these exercises the assembly will move over to the runway to witness the landing of the first EAL plane in 64 days, scheduled to arrived at 3:20. Stanhope Elmore, Chairman of the Air Transportation Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, stated that the resumption of Dannelly Field is an important step in the air progress of Montgomery, and he said, “I urge the general public to attend the ceremonies paying tribute to the son of our county superintendent of education, Dr. C.M. Dannelly.”