World War II Honoree

Orval N. Myrick

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Klamath Falls, Oregon

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Technical Sergeant. Inducted into the United States Army July 15, 1941 at Portland, Oregon. Upon his graduation from recruit training, he was designated to attend the Flight Aviation Training Program. He served as a B-29 ‘Super-Fortress’ Bomber Flight Engineer, 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 Ector County Cemetery Odessa, Texas. This American Patriot was awarded the Air Medal posthumously, for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.