IRVING — Herman Spoede was a World War II pilot, a member of Hellhawks Squadron.
He has been missing for nearly 70 years.
The Spoede family's only clue to his fate was a note that he "failed to return from a flying mission" in the Solomon Islands.
That is until Bob Spoede, his sole surviving brother, received an unexpected gift Saturday in Irving.
It's a tough walk down memory lane as a stranger asks 84-year-old Bob Spoede to look at the painting that solves the mystery about how his brother died.
"He was missing in action," Spoede said. "I always wanted to think the best... that he would be found."
What Spoede found out at a meeting in Irving Saturday is that the man in the picture — Lt. John Erwin Ramsay — was stationed on Guadalcanal on the same date that Bob's brother, Herman Spoede, went missing.
Herman Spoede was a U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot in World War II. His aircraft disappeared on July 3, 1943, and he was declared dead a year later.
But, a surprise painting helped unravel the mystery.
John Ramsay Jr. showed his father's work to Bob Spoede. It turns out the naval officer was also an amateur painter, and was painting the squadron Spoede was in as they were launched into combat mission.
As Spoede climbed into the cockpit, the sketch was made.
"We did a little research, and it turns out that it was your brother in the plane that my grandfather painted," explained Carr Ramsay, the grandson of the painter, to Spoede. "His goal was to have it go back to your brother and or be with his family."
So the Ramsay family did the honors of turning over a sentimental painting that Lt. Ramsay was never able to do himself.
"I'm in shock," Spoede said. "A total surprise!"
It was documented that Lt. Ramsey waited by the runway for Herman Spoede's return, but to no avail.
"He was the only pilot to disappear in a thunderstorm," said David Spoede, Herman's nephew.
The painting is titled "Thunderhead," a reference to the storm clouds that led to Herman Spoede's fate. It finally offers the Spoede family the complete story... by complete strangers who cared enough to share a painting that's worth more than a thousand words.
Ramsay kept the painting, and it was always hanging in his home or office until his grandson received it.
E-mail ddenmon@wfaa.com
