Chasing Our Tales - Dub Warren

With assistance of Randy and Lou Warren, Noel Garland, and Tom O. Moore, Jr.

Dub Warren, as the family called him, was one of Randy Warren’s father's brothers.  Dub grew up in Palo Pinto County, having been born on a farm outside of Mineral Wells.  He attended a country school, the Brazos Valley School, and then completed his education in Mineral Wells Independent School District.  As a young man he was a partner with Minnie Cheek in the M & W Variety Store that was located on South Oak.  He also owned a tire store before WWII.  He liked to tease everyone. The people that worked with him and for him never knew what to expect.

He learned how to fly before the war and entered the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) as a pilot.  His plane took off in very cloudy rainy weather and was lost over the Hump (the Himalayas) in January 1945. 

For years the family held out hope that he would be one of pilots rescued by the Chinese, but not even his plane was ever found.  He has a memorial marker in the family plot at the Indian Creek Cemetery even though no body was ever recovered to be placed there. Maybe someday whatever ruins are ever found can be brought home. 

The family has several pictures of him, and many are posted on the CNAC site, http://www.cnac.org/warren01.htm.  
 
Randy was just a toddler when Dub left, so he does not remember him much and therefore it is family stories that he remembers most. The family always spoke of him and even though many did not meet him they feel as though they knew him.  
 
Randy and Lou’s son, Will, nicknamed his son Dub since there had been so many good stories about the first Dub through the years and since the man was so young, had never married and did not ever get the chance to have children of his own.  So, they have a "Dub" as a tribute to a previous generation.

William Dean (Dub) Warren Jr. was born in July 9, 1912, and died in ca, January 6,1945. He was in the CNAC from 1944 until January 6, 1945. He was known in the CNAC as Hardhead Warren, a name given to him by G. H. Glenn Carroll of Gresham, Oregon.

Of Glenn Carroll, Jim Dalby said (certainly off-track regarding Warren, but very interesting), “On March 11, 1944, Glenn Carroll, my roommate, landed #86 in a river at night. It’s an interesting story from some other time. Art Pendergast took some mechanics and helpers to the landing site. The nose of the aircraft was out of the water on a sand bar. Using elephants to carry new propellers, tools, and gasoline, Pendergast repaired the airplane, towed it to a 800-foot sandy strip cut out of the jungle where Billy McDonald and he took off successfully.”

Dub’s favorite song to play on the juke box was "Waltz Across Texas". He once gave a $10.00 bill to a waitress and told her to play that song as long as the $10.00 lasted and then he would give her some more.

Namesake W. D. Warren of North Carolina says of Dub, “My cousin, friend and namesake Captain W. D. Warren Jr. was lost over the Hump flying for CNAC on Jan 6, 1945, near Dinjan. I'm searching for the book, The Aluminum Trail and would like to contact anyone who has more info about my long lost cousin.

Note of the book: Chick Marrs Quinn. THE ALUMINUM TRAIL (CHINA-BURMA-INDIA-WORLD WAR II, HOW AND WHERE THEY DIED, can be purchased from Amazon.com online.

Warren continues, “When I was in high school he (Dub) took me for my first flight in a Piper Cub and also to Love Field in Dallas to watch P-51's land and take off during a fuel stop. His real nickname was "Dub". He was a young, single business owner when he fell in love with flying and sold his businesses to fund his training in multi-engine planes. One of his first jobs was delivering B-24 bombers from the factory to their new homes. I don't know how or why he went with CNAC. All his siblings are dead now but I will contact his niece who has a lot of family data, and I will try to develop a biography on him for inclusion on his CNAC page. Wish I had been aware of it earlier since his last siblings died within the last couple years.”

The Dragon's Wings by William M. Leary, Jr. (Copyright © 1976) is quoted on the CNAC page regarding the business of CNAC: "American business enterprise took the lead in advancing a program to inaugurate commercial air service in China. Curtiss-Wright, the leading aeronautical corporation in the United States at the time, founded the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) in partnership with the Chinese government in 1929. Subsequently taken over by Pan American Airways in 1933, CNAC pioneered commercial air service throughout the Middle Kingdom until the airline's demise in 1949."

Do you have more information regarding Dub Warren...or questions we could pose to his relatives? If so, please write P O Box 61, Mineral Wells TX 76068-0061.

As I write the snow is falling thick and fast...the third time for Mineral Wells! Everyone keep warm!

©2009 Sue Seibert