Henry J Pollard (1919 - 1944)

Born 2 Dec 1919 in Savannah, Chatham, Georgia, United States

Died 22 May 1944 at age 24 in Italy

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Biography

Henry Pollard was Killed in Action during World War II.

Henry Pollard is a Military Veteran.
Served in the United States Army Air Force 302nd Fighter Squadron 1943-1944
Tuskegee Airman flying Ace

Henry was born in 1919 to Henry and Pauline Pollard. He was born in Savannah, Georgia, but his father moved the family to Buffalo, New York when he was young. Henry attended Fosdick Maten Park High School in Buffalo where he excelled in football, track, band and orchestra.. .^[1] He graduated in 1938, then attended Canisius College from 1938 to 1939. Henry was a musicion, and played the saxaphone with "Stuff" Smith's Orchestra and was a member of the local "Colored Musians Club" prior to entering the service.^[2]

Henry enlisted in the Army in June of 1942, in Buffalo. His WWII draft card states that he was a musician. He served in the military police in Oswego, New York. When he attained the rank of Staff Seargeant, he applied for admission to the Army Air Corp. He attended the Tuskegee Air Pilot Institute in Alabama and received his wings and a commission in December of 1943. He was assigned to the 301st Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, stationed in Italy. ^[3] On May 22, 1944, Henry was flying in a training mission from Capodichino when his plane suddenly crashed, killing him instantly. ^[4] He is buried in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Italy.

Sources

1. ↑ Fosdick Masten Park High School Yearbook: 1938.
2. ↑ The New York Age, 6 Nov 1943, pg. 3
3. ↑ www.aahanf.org: Volume 43 Number 1 FAll-Winter 2019: Sharon Holley, Madeline Scott and SoniaL. Walker, editors.
4. ↑ www.cafriseabove.org Tuskegee AirmenChronology 11 Mar 2016

• The New York Age, 6 Nov 1943, pg. 3