Operation: Escort operation to Vitry (Mission #478), France

Date: 17th July 1944 (Monday)

Unit: 78th Fighter Group, 84th Fighter Squadron, 8th Air Force

Type: P-47D

Serial: 42-26652

Code: WZ:Z

Base: Duxford Airfield (Station #357), Cambridgeshire, England

Location: 1½ km WNW of Sompuis, France

Pilot: Capt. Harry T. Lay Jr. DFC, O-664412 AAF Age 23. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Capt. Lay took off from Duxford Airfield on the morning of the 17th July 1944 on an escort operation to Vitry in France.

The following is the after mission statement by 2nd Lt. Wilbur K. Grimes:

I was flying Shampoo Blue #4 on Captain Lay's wing. About 10:30 hrs we went down to strafe a troop train near Liffol-le-Grand. While we were making the third pass on the train, I saw a flash on Captain Lay's engine. He pulled up from his pass, immediately. At about 1800 feet the plane did a wing over to the left and crashed in the marshalling yard.

I saw Captain Lay's parachute open at about 300 feet. It collapsed almost at once. I banked up and saw him running in an easterly direction toward a forest.

His position when I last saw him was about 10 km SW of Neufchâteau.

German documents reported that the aircraft was hit by a railway flak unit near to the railway station at Sompuis and crashed about 1½ km WNW of Sompuis, some 50 km NNE of Troyes in France.

The entry for the loss of this aircraft in Stan Bishop’s “Losses of US 8th and 9th Air Forces - Vol 4” speculated that Capt. Lay may have been wounded or shot at on the ground because he was sent to a hospital in Châlons-sur-Marne (Châlons-en-Champagne) after being captured.

An entry in the records of the Châlons-sur-Marne hospital recorded that Capt. Lay was admitted to the hospital suffering from 2nd and 3rd degree burns to his face, body, arms and legs. The record implies that he died of heart failure on the 20th July 1944 at 02:30 hrs.

Capt. Lay was one of a handful of pilots who had completed tours flying bombers and then transferred to fighters. Capt. Lay was one of the lead pilots with the 91st Bombardment Group (H), flying the B-17 and after completing his tour of duty became a fighter pilot with the 78th Fighter Group.

1st Lt. Harry T. Lay, standing 4th from left, and crew of the 401st Bombardment Squadron (H), 91st Bombardment Group (H), 8th Air Force. Bassingbourne Airfield (Station #121), Cambridgeshire, England - 23rd May 1943 (Credit: Fold3)

Records show that he claimed the destruction of two enemy aircraft; a Bf-109 on the 1st July 1944 near St. Quentin and a Fw-190 on the 6th July 1944 NW of Paris.

Burial details:

Above: (Credit : American Air Museum in Britain (Moseley, L.L. and Family) and Dwight Anderson - FindAGrave)

Capt. Lay was initially buried in the Eastern Cemetery, Châlons-sur-Marne in Row 1, Grave 10. On the 20th September 1944 he was reinterred in the US Military Cemetery Champigneul (Champigneul-Champagne), Plot B, Row 2, Grave 26.

Capt. Harry T. Lay. DFC, Air Medal, (3 Oak Leaf Clusters), Purple Heart. Final interment at the Epinal American Cemetery, Plot A, Row 34, Grave 44. Born on the 5th June 1921 in Denver, Colorado. Son of Harry T. and Weta (née Rabb) Lay of Denver, Colorado, USA. His father pre-deceased him in 1928.

Note: His DFC and Air Medals were awarded whilst with the 401st Bombardment Sqn (H).

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot.

Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them. Franklin Delano Roosevelt