World War II Honoree

Charles W. Payne

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Joppa, Maryland

Honored By

Mrs. Charles W. Payne

Relationship

Wife

Activated from Maryland National Guard on Pearl Harbor Day, Frederick, Maryland. Entered Air Corps, went to Classification Center in Nashville, Tennessee and classed as bombardier. Transferred to Santa Ana, then Victorville, California. Later to Colorado Springs, Oklahoma City and Lafayette, Louisiana. Then to Calcutta and Cox's Bazaar, India as Mapping Squadron photographer, where he died in active duty as his plane crashed into the Bay of Bengal early Sunday morning, March 18, 1945, headed for an assignment in the China-Burma-India Theater. Posthumously awarded the Air Medal and Purple Heart Medal. Buried in Baltimore National Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland.