MOUNT PLEASANT, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The Eastern Cabarrus Historical Society will honor one of its most decorated WW2 veterans on Sunday, June 4.

Daughter Glenda Ball will discuss her late father, Rowan County native John Albert Hayden Lingle, in a presentation. Lingle died in 1988 at age 65.

This program is free and open to the public. The historical society presentation will be in Society Hall at 1145 N. College Street at 2:30 p.m.

The United States Air Corps man crashed his B-24 plane named “The Jolly Duck” behind enemy lines in 1945. Germans forced the man into a 506-mile forced march to southern Bavaria. 

Lingle returned to the United States and got an honorable discharge before returning to North Carolina.

Ball will discuss her late father’s experience in “The B-24 Jolly Duck: Past Present and Future.” The program will highlight her father’s service, her own time in Holland, and how future generations work to honor the crew’s legacy in America and abroad.

“As Americans, we should take the time to know and honor the heroes in each family,” Ball said in a news release. 

Lingle was awarded two Purple Hearts, three Bronze Stars, and the Air Medal with four bronze clusters. According to the Salisbury Post, Lingle received a category one valor induction into the N.C. Military Hall of Fame in 2020.