Major Richard I. Bong grew up on a farm in Poplar, Wisconsin, as one of nine children, a member of a strong 4-H family, as noted in a feature in National 4-H Club News. While at Superior State Teachers College, Dick Bong enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program. One of his flight instructors was Capt. Barry Goldwater (later U.S. Senator from Arizona). He received his wings and commission as a second lieutenant on January 19, 1942, only a few weeks after the U.S. declared war on Japan. Dick Bong became the United States' highest-scoring air ace, having shot down at least 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II. [Surpassing Eddie Rickenbacker's American record of 26 credited victories in World War I.] Bong was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces and a recipient of the Medal of Honor, receiving the medal at a special ceremony in December 1944 from General Douglas MacArthur.

Near the end of the war, Major Bong became a test pilot assigned to Lockheed's Burbank, California plant, where he flew P-80 Shooting Star jet fighters. On August 6, 1945 his plane's primary fuel pump malfunctioned and Dick Bong was killed, news of his death sharing the headlines in newspapers across the country with the bombing of Hiroshima. The war was over! Mission accomplished.

Bong is well remembered with the Richard Bong State Recreation Area on the old site of Bong Air Force Base in Kenosha county, Wisconsin. Also, the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in Duluth, Minnesota; Richard I. Bong Airport in Superior, Wisconsin; Richard I. Bong Bridge in Townsville, Australia; Richard Bong Theater in Misawa, Japan; Richard I. Bong Veteran Historical Center in Superior; streets and avenues in his name in Glendale, Arizona; Anchorage, Alaska; Spokane, Washington; San Antonio, Texas; Mount Holly, New Jersey; and Okinawa, Japan.