The Story Behind The Funny Sign

Once designated to be a jet fighter base, Richard Bong State Recreation Area is fittingly named after Maj. Richard I. Bong, a Poplar, Wisconsin, native who was America's leading air ace during World War II. The project was abandoned three days before concrete was to be poured for a 12,500-foot runway. Local citizens had the foresight to protect this open space for future generations. In 1974 the state bought the land and it became the state's first recreation area. Marjorie Bong Drucker , widow of WW2 flying ace and war hero Richard I. Bong, who became a celebrity when America saw her picture painted on the nose of her fiancée's P-38 Lightning fighter plane which became known as "Marge's plane" and she became known as "the most shot-after girl in the South Pacific" (Richard Bong was killed in a plane crash in 1945), and who later became an outspoken advocate for veterans and preserving history, writing a book and opening the Richard I. Bong World War II Heritage Center, died of cancer on Oct. 4 in Superior, WI at age 79 .