James Burlyn Hale was born on July 29, 1912 to P.E. and Myrtle (Rafferty) Hale in White Oak, Craig County, Oklahoma. James had two sisters, Elena and Virginia. James graduated from Vinita High School and Tulsa Business College and was working as a bookkeeper before enlisting in the service,

Military:

James entered the service at Vinita OK on March 4, 1942 and trained at Sheppard Field TX.

James served three months in the Euro-African-Middle Eastern Theater of Operations, as a B-24 Flight Engineer/Gunner, assigned to the 343rd Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Forces at Benghazi, Libya participating in the bombing missions over Italy, Greece and Romania. He was killed in action on August 1, 1943 when his B-24D Liberator (tail #42-40655) was shot down over the Ploesti, Romania oil refineries during "Operation Tidal Wave".

TSgt. James B. Hale is interred at Fairview Cemetery, Vinita, Oklahoma. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, and Air Medal w/2 Oak Leaf Clusters.

Sources:

U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016 - Ancestry.com

U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016 - Ancestry.com

U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 - Ancestry.com

TSGT James Burlyn Hale (1912-1943) - Find a Grave Memorial

James Burlyn Hale : Technical Sergeant from Oklahoma, World War II Casualty (honorstates.org)

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see

http://www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers

to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We

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James B Hale