Washington Seaplane Base
monument under construction

By PAT REEDER CLAREMORE — Will Rogers last “Daily Telegram” before heading to Alaska was datelined Seattle, Wash., and was written Aug. 6, 1935. The next day he was in Juneau and nine days later he and fellow Oklahoman and pilot Wiley Post were dead.      Will and Wiley left on a world tour from Renton, Washington’s Seaplane Base.      Bob Dempster, Washington Seaplane Pilots Association president, is the promoter and designer of a Will Rogers-Wiley Post Memorial at Renton.      Engraving on the bronze plaque of simple monument with a view of Lake Washington is a tribute to the “Oklahoma cowboy, lasso-twirling humorist on stage, actor, philanthropist and early aviation pioneer” … and “his friend Wiley Post.”      The loss of Will and Wiley “left behind great humor and a spirit of aviation in America, as expressed by few other men,” Dempster said.      Now Dempster is working with Renton airport management to include more about the two men involved in the fatal flight that rocked the world. Additions to the monument will describe life and times of Will Rogers, one for Wiley Post and a third describing the Ryan Explorer aircraft that was used.      The Renton Airport is at the south end of Lake Washington, contiguous with the seaplane base. The monument on a tree and grassy area, adjoining a seawall on one side and parking area on the other, is accessible to the public,      While the monument is not completed, aviation pioneers were at the Renton airport last summer for a dedication, Dempster said.      He has been working with Michelle Lefebvre-Carter, Will Rogers Memorial Museums director, to provide photos and information. In 1925 Will Rogers met Brig. Gen. William ‘Billy” Mitchell, who had criticized preparedness of the aviation division of Department of War and the Navy. Mitchell took Will on aerial tour of Washington, D.C. When they landed he told him it was his last flight as a brigadier general, he was about to be demoted.      One of the images provided for the Renton tribute is Will Rogers and Brig. Gen. William “Billy” Mitchell, “controversial advocate of air power,” on Mitchell’s last flight as a brigadier general.      Will Rogers met Mitchell in 1925 after the pilot criticized preparedness of the aviation division of the Department of War and the Navy.      Mitchell took Will on an aerial tour of Washington, D.C. When they landed Mitchell told him it was his last flight as a brigadier general. He was about to be demoted.      “Rogers flew with most every famous aviator of his day and he wrote in his new columns of his experiences,” the monument tribute will read.      There will also be an image of Will with a rope in his hand.      Will visited 15 countries and traveled 13,000 miles on a trip through South America and the Caribbean. In 1932 he set out on a world tour, writing about his experiences.      “By 1933 he had made so many air trips across the United States, he was named America’s Number One Air Passenger,” the expanded plaques will note.      When he left Washington — ever the cowboy-roper — he said he had always wanted to “see Alaska and lasso a reindeer.”      “I am delighted with the monument additions,” said Lefebvre-Carter, congratulating Dempster and the Seaplane Pilots Association. “You have our full support on your historic endeavor.”