Henry D. Wagner
Born and raised in San Jose, Wagner graduated from the University of Oregon only a few months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. On Dec. 24, 1941, he received his notice to report for U.S. Army Air Corps cadet flight school starting in January 1942. Upon completion of flight training, he was sent to South Carolina for training on the B-25 Mitchell Bomber, ultimately becoming an instructor.
After two years, he requested assignment to active duty and was sent to China, by way of India, to serve in the 14th Air Force. Major Gen. Claire Chennault of Flying Tiger fame was the commander.
The Flying Tigers conducted highly effective fighter and bomber operations along a wide front that stretched from the bend of the Yellow River and Tsinan in northern China to Indochina in the south, from Chengtu, China, and the Salween River in the west to the China Sea and the island of Formosa in the east. They were also instrumental in supplying Chinese forces through the airlift of cargo across "The Hump" in the China-Burma-India Theater.
By the end of World War II, the 14th Air Force had achieved air superiority over the skies of China and established a ratio of 7.7 enemy planes destroyed for every American plane lost in combat. Overall, military officials estimated that more than 4,000 Japanese planes were destroyed or damaged in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II. In addition, they estimated that air units in China destroyed 1,100,000 tons of shipping, 4,836 trucks, 580 bridges, 1,225 locomotives and 712 railroad cars.
Functioning as group operations officer, Wagner was very much a part of that action. On one occasion, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross when his squadron flew into Hong Kong and sank thousands of tons of shipping in one low-level pass over the harbor. He credited a small contingent of B-24 bombers that flew at high altitude with creating a distraction from his main force.
On another occasion, he returned from a nighttime bombing raid over a Japanese airbase, only to discover that the Japanese had bombed his airbase while he was away. He creatively landed on a taxi strip alongside the runway.
He was honorably discharged as a major in 1946 and spent 42 years in the graphic-arts business, selling Heidelberg printing presses. He met his first wife, Peggy, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and they raised two daughters and a son.
He lost his first wife in 1989, but while on one of 90 business trips to Hawaii, he met Ethel, his second wife, also on business. They married in a traditional Hawaiian ceremony on the beach at sunset on May 22, 1992.
After he retired, Wagner and his wife moved to Sun Lakes so he could enjoy his favorite sport: golf. He was a member of the Sun Lakes Rotary Club, the VFW and Palo Verde Golf Club.
He is survived by his wife, Ethel, daughter Patty Elms, son Bill Wagner, stepsons Doug and Paul Budner, six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
Henry D. Wagner, a Word War II pilot who flew with the famous Flying Tigers, died March 13. He was 93 and lived in Sun Lakes.
Born and raised in San Jose, Wagner graduated from the University of Oregon only a few months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. On Dec. 24, 1941, he received his notice to report for U.S. Army Air Corps cadet flight school starting in January 1942. Upon completion of flight training, he was sent to South Carolina for training on the B-25 Mitchell Bomber, ultimately becoming an instructor.
After two years, he requested assignment to active duty and was sent to China, by way of India, to serve in the 14th Air Force. Major Gen. Claire Chennault of Flying Tiger fame was the commander.
The Flying Tigers conducted highly effective fighter and bomber operations along a wide front that stretched from the bend of the Yellow River and Tsinan in northern China to Indochina in the south, from Chengtu, China, and the Salween River in the west to the China Sea and the island of Formosa in the east. They were also instrumental in supplying Chinese forces through the airlift of cargo across "The Hump" in the China-Burma-India Theater.
By the end of World War II, the 14th Air Force had achieved air superiority over the skies of China and established a ratio of 7.7 enemy planes destroyed for every American plane lost in combat. Overall, military officials estimated that more than 4,000 Japanese planes were destroyed or damaged in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II. In addition, they estimated that air units in China destroyed 1,100,000 tons of shipping, 4,836 trucks, 580 bridges, 1,225 locomotives and 712 railroad cars.
Functioning as group operations officer, Wagner was very much a part of that action. On one occasion, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross when his squadron flew into Hong Kong and sank thousands of tons of shipping in one low-level pass over the harbor. He credited a small contingent of B-24 bombers that flew at high altitude with creating a distraction from his main force.
On another occasion, he returned from a nighttime bombing raid over a Japanese airbase, only to discover that the Japanese had bombed his airbase while he was away. He creatively landed on a taxi strip alongside the runway.
He was honorably discharged as a major in 1946 and spent 42 years in the graphic-arts business, selling Heidelberg printing presses. He met his first wife, Peggy, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and they raised two daughters and a son.
He lost his first wife in 1989, but while on one of 90 business trips to Hawaii, he met Ethel, his second wife, also on business. They married in a traditional Hawaiian ceremony on the beach at sunset on May 22, 1992.
After he retired, Wagner and his wife moved to Sun Lakes so he could enjoy his favorite sport: golf. He was a member of the Sun Lakes Rotary Club, the VFW and Palo Verde Golf Club.
He is survived by his wife, Ethel, daughter Patty Elms, son Bill Wagner, stepsons Doug and Paul Budner, six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
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