World War II Honoree
Killed in World War II
Walter Harvey Fike, Jr.
Branch of Service
U.S. Army Air Force
Hometown
Long Beach, California
Honored By
Sam E. Pennartz
Advanced pilot Class 44-E at Pecos Army Air Field, Pecos, Texas. During the night and early morning hours of 3-4 July 1945, (Mission #248) one hundred twenty-five 73rd Bomb Wing B-29 aircraft launch from Isley Field on Saipan in the Mariana Islands to incendiary bomb the Kochi urban area of Japan. Pilot assigned to 20th Air Force, XXI Bomber Command, 73rd Bomb Wing, 497th Bombardment Group (VH), 870th Bomb Squadron, B-29 serial #42-24774, call sign A-Square-22, nicknamed 'Miss HAP' was lost when hit with Anti-Aircraft Artillery flak, and crashed.