World War II Honoree

Hartphey Haller

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Pendleton, Oregon

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: First Lieutenant. Inducted into the United States Army March 19, 1943 at Portland, Oregon. Upon his graduation from recruit training, he was designated to attend the Flight Aviation Training Program. As a graduate of the Aviation Cadet program, he then accepted his commission with his Navigator Wings. He served as a B-29 ‘Super-Fortress’ Bomber Radar Observer, assigned to the 402nd Bomber Squadron, 502nd Bomber Group, 315th Bomber Wing, an element of the U.S. Twentieth Army Air Forces. His unit was based at the Isley Airfield Location: Saipan Island, Northern Mariana Islands. Monday, August 27, 1945 he died in a non-battle flight accident, when the pilot crashed into Saipan’s Mount Tapochau, due to bad visibility, and stormy conditions. The flight was returning to base, from a non-combat mission in the Philippine Islands. Personnel from a Graves Registration Company buried him in the Twenty Seventh Army Division Saipan battlefield cemetery. In the post-war era, this Airman’s family requested that he be buried with Military Honors at the Union Cemetery Union, Oregon. This American Patriot was awarded the Air Medal posthumously, for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.