Steponas Darius: tarnyba Jungtinių Amerikos Valstijų kariuomenėje (1917-1919)

LTStraipsnyje, remiantis Lietuvoje, Jungtinėse Amerikos Valstijose (JAV) ir kitose šalyse publikuotais šaltiniais, analizuojama Stepono Dariaus karo tarnybos JAV Ekspedicinių pajėgų 42-osios „Vaivorykštės“ divizijos 67-osios lauko artilerijos brigados 149-ojo lauko artilerijos pulko Štabo kuopoje 1917–1919 m. Pirmojo pasaulinio karo metu patirtys. Aptariamos apdovanojimo ir skatinimo eiliškumas ir priežastys, sužeidimų aplinkybės, uniformos detalės ir ženklai, matomi nuotraukose, kuriose jis įamžintas dėvintis JAV kario uniformą, analizuojant tarnybos JAV 149-ojo lauko artilerijos pulke ypatumus, nurodomos padalinio buvimo Prancūzijoje, Belgijoje, Liuksemburge ir Vokietijoje datos. Pagrindiniai žodžiai: Steponas Darius, „Lituanica“, skrydis per Atlantą, apdovanojimai, sužeidimai, JAV Ekspedicinių pajėgų 42-osios „Vaivorykštės“ divizijos 67-osios lauko artilerijos brigados 149-ojo lauko artilerijos pulkas.

ENSteponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas are among the best-known and most prominent Lithuanians on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. This is so much so that their fame extends from Lithuania to emigrant communities around the globe. Their 37-hour flight from Floyd Bennett Field in New York on July 15, 1933, which saw them crossing the Atlantic Ocean and crashing in current Polish territory near Pszczelnik, has become an immortal legend. The two Lithuanian Americans had flown 6,411km in the Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker airplane and were only 636km short of their final destination – Kaunas in Lithuania – when they crashed. The deaths of the two young pilots at that time resonated not only in Lithuania or among Lithuanian emigrant communities around the world, but also in the US, Germany and Poland. The crash site was found by Germans on the morning of July 17. Both dead pilots had US passports and pilot licenses, while the plane had the US registration number NR-688E. That was amazing to US officials, with the intention to make the flight known only among Lithuanians. The crew took off from New York without officially informing the US – and, in fact, none of the countries were tracking the flight. The lethal crash in occupied by Germans current Poland territory therefore surprised some states for a while. On July 19, two days after the crash site was discovered, a German airplane carried the bodies of the pilots to Lithuania.Meanwhile, the flight of the plane, called Lituanica, was unique from a world aviation perspective: firstly, it carried the first transatlantic airmail in history; secondly, it was the second-longest non-stop flight by distance and fourth by duration at the time; lastly, it was one of the most precise flights in aviation history, which was necessary because Darius and Girėnas did not have navigational equipment and flew in very bad weather conditions. In the years following the flight, Lithuania commemorated the two pilots in a great variety of ways. Streets, schools and even a stadium were named after them, while large permanent exhibitions were dedicated to them at the Vytautas the Great War and Lithuanian Aviation museums in Kaunas. Perhaps most interestingly of all, during World War II, a Lockheed Ventura B-34/37 US Air Force bomber was named Lituanica and a US Navy Liberty-class ship the SS Stepas Darius. The list of the 100 most outstanding Lithuanian people compiled by members of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Science and Encyclopedia Publishing also includes Darius and Girėnas. Their 1933 flight across the Atlantic Ocean in the Lituanica and its tragic end near their destination on the centenary of Lithuanian independence was also included among the 100 most important events for the modern Lithuanian state. Darius and Girėnas, two heroes who had lived in the US since youth, were united by their Lithuanian ancestry, their native Samogitian dialect, the Lithuanian community in Chicago and their interest in flying, as well as their common interest and military service in the United States Army. Both men served in the US Army during World War I, Darius from June 30, 1917, to May 10, 1919, and Girėnas from October 11, 1919, to April 1, 1919. Both were considered World War I veterans in US periodicals.There is no doubt that Darius’s military duty and experience in World War I had a key impact on his mental and cultural comprehension, and his world view. Darius was formally commended three times during his service in the US Army. Firstly, he was praised for his bravery in the performance of duty-related tasks in a written order from the 149th Field Artillery Regiment on April 3, 1919. Secondly, he received a certificate of honor from the 149th Field Artillery Regiment, signed on April 29, 1918. Thirdly, he was promoted to the military rank of Private First Class shortly before his retirement, although the exact date of this is not known. All of his other US and most of his Lithuanian decorations and honors were posthumous, including the Purple Heart medal. That medal, a US decoration awarded to those wounded or killed while serving, also proves that Darius was injured during his deployment in Europe. Thanks to the meticulous attention of the US to preserving and recording its military heritage, the name of Darius has left a visible imprint on the country’s written military memory and history. He crossed the Atlantic six times in his short 37-year lifespan – emigrating with his family in 1907, serving in the US military in 1917 and 1919, coming to Lithuania in 1920 to build a state and army with Lithuanian-American volunteers, returning to the US in 1927 as a captain of Lithuanian Air Force reserve, and making the crossing with his crew member Girėnas in the small plane in 1933. Before leaving Lithuania in 1927, Darius said at a farewell dinner with his closest colleagues: I have not lived long, yet this will be my fifth time crossing the Atlantic. [...].

• Lituanica. Nematoma pusė. Vilnius : Aukso žuvys, 2019. 455 p.
• Stepono Dariaus ir Stasio Girėno byla: istorinis vyksmas, traktuotė, naratyvo kaita. Vilnius, 2016. 1 pdf (332 p.).