WWII · Battle Death Record
Leon Vance
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Air Forces · New York
Medal of Honor
Personnel File — Core Information
- Name
- Leon Vance
- Entered the Service From
- New York
- Rank
- Lieutenant Colonel
- Service
- U.S. Army Air Forces
- Unit / Regiment
- 489th Bombardment Group
- War
- WWII
- Date of Death
- July 26, 1944
- Awards
- Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, Air Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Presidential Unit Citation
- Burial / Memorial
- Commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial
- Grave
- Tablets of the Missing
Their story
On June 5, 1944, Lt. Col. Vance led a heavy bombardment group over German defenses near Wimereux, France; after his aircraft was severely damaged by flak and his right foot was nearly severed, he continued the mission and, with the controls destroyed, ditched the crippled B-24 in the English Channel to save a crewman he believed was still aboard. He survived that action but was lost at sea on July 26, 1944, when the C-54 repatriating him to the United States disappeared over the Atlantic between Iceland and Newfoundland; his remains were never recovered.
Compiled from American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and National Archives (NARA) records and public sources.
This record is one of more than 200,000 in our historical archive. Some information may have been corrupted or lost over decades of data conversion. Corrections are welcome — please contact the archive.