Sat, Oct 08, 2011
Pilot And Entrepreneur Had A Cameo Role In The Watergate
Scandal
Former WWII fighter pilot and hearing aid entrepreneur Kenneth
Dahlberg passed away Tuesday at his home in Deephaven, MN. He was
94 years old.
File Photo
The entrepreneur founded the company which became Miracle-Ear,
which he later sold to become a venture capitalist who helped
finance other companies. But before his business success, he had
been a highly-decorated fighter pilot during WWII. Drafted just
before the U.S. entered the war, he became a pilot and flew P-51
Mustangs on such missions as support of the D-Day invasion in
1944.
The Washington Post reports that Dahlberg was credited
with 15 victories, including one mission in which he racked up four
kills over Paris. He was also shot down three times during his tour
in Europe. Twice, he was able to rejoin his unit from behind enemy
lines, but he was not so lucky the third time. He was captured by a
Nazi patrol and was a POW in Stalag VII near Munich for the last
few months of the war.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Dahlberg had
a fleeting brush with the Watergate scandal. A fundraiser for the
Nixon re-election campaign, he had endorsed and delivered
to the campaign a $25,000 check that turned up in the bank account
of one of the burglars, which tied Nixon to the incident. It was a
legal check from the former chairman of Archer-Daniels-Midland.
Dalhberg was cleared by a grand jury of any wrongdoing in the case,
but it remained as a footnote to his career. A biographer said that
while Dahlberg said the scandal "made good copy," he thought it was
unfortunate that the small incident often overshadowed his military
and business accomplishments.
The Minneapolis paper reports the Dahlberg remained an active
pilot, flying with the Minnesota Air national Guard until 1951, and
as a civilian either as pilot or co-pilot into his 90's. He was
inducted into both the Minnesota and Arizona Aviation Halls of
Fame.
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