Henry Page Walley was born in Richton, Mississippi to David Walley and Rose Alpert. His father was a Major in the United States Army during World War I and died in 1929. He was a graduate of Central High School, Jackson, Mississippi in He was married to Glenda D. Walley. His brother 2nd Lt. Fred J. Walley was killed in an airplane crash in China in 1944.
Aircraft B-24H with serial number 42-64435 was on a bombardment mission to Munster in Germany. On their way back to England the aircraft was last seen over the North Sea with No. 2 engine on fire after which a large explosion was observed beneath the ship, believed the bombs from the plane. After the explosion the plane was seen going down out of control and headed back towards the Dutch Coast.
Crew members
Pilot, 2nd Lt Herman H. Miller
Co-Pilot, 2nd Lt Henry P. Walley
Navigator, 2nd Lt John L. Becker
Bombardier, 2nd Lt Wilbur H. Luetzow
R. adio Operator, S/Sgt Seymour Zimmerman
Waist Gunner, Sgt William J. Baum
Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, S/Sgt James W. Robinson
Assistant Engineer/Waist Gunner, Sgt Arthur W. Swanson
Belly Turret Gunner, Sgt Walter T. Gorka
Tail Gunner, Sgt Harold T. Barton
Memorialized at Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England
The Chattanooga Daily Times, 8 June 1945
David Z. Walley, 718 Clayton Avenue, received word yesterday that his brother, Lt. Henry P. Walley, Liberator bomber co-pilot missing in action since Feb. 21, is now presumed by the War Department to be dead. The official notification of Lt. Walley’s presumed death was sent to his wife, Mrs. Dolores Mooneyham Walley, Calhoun City, Miss., and she forwarded it to the Chattanooga brother. Lt. Walley was the son of the late Dr. And Mrs. David M. Walley, Jackson, Miss. He was the brother of Lt. Fred Walley, bombardier, who was killed in action in China in July of 1944. Two other brothers are in the navy, Lt.-Comdr. M.C. Walley and HA1C John M. Walley, both in the Pacific theater. Mrs. Rose Walley Marks, Jackson, Miss., is a sister.
The notification to Mrs. Walley stated: “Since your husband, Lt. Henry P. Walley, Air Corps, was reported missing in action Feb. 21, 1944, the War Department has entertained the hope that he survived and that information would be revealed dispelling the uncertainty surrounding his absence. However, as in many cases, conditions of warfare deny us such information. Information in the hands of the War Department indicates that your husband became missing in action while on a bombing mission to Munster, Germany. The B-24 (Liberator) bomber in which he was a crew member was last seen going down out of control over the North Sea, about miles from the Dutch Coast. Since no information has been received which would support a presumption of his continued survival, the War Department must now terminate your husband’s absence as death.”
- Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Date of birth: 11 October 1917
- Date of death: 21 February 1944
- County: Hamilton
- Hometown: Chattanooga
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 576th Bomber Squadron, 397th Bomber Group, Heavy
- Theater: Europe
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster
- Burial/Memorial Location: Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England
- Location In Memorial: Pillar X, Bottom Panel
- Contact us to sponsor Henry P. Walley
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