Photograph of Arthur Bluethenthal in uniform.
Arthur Bluethenthal (1891-1918) was born in Wilmington, NC. He attended Princeton University where he was a first team All-American football player in 1911. Bluethenthal joined the American Ambulance Field Service in 1916 and the Lafayette Flying Corps, Escadrille 227 as a bomber pilot in 1918. He was the first North Carolinian killed in action during World War I. In 1921, Bluethenthal's body was brought home to Wilmington and interred in Oakdale Cemetery. The Wilmington airport was renamed Bluethenthal Field in his honor on Memorial Day 1928.
