Leonard Robert Willette
BornApril 29, 1921
Belleville, New Jersey
DiedSeptember 22, 1944 (aged 23)
Bavaria, Germany

2nd Lt. Leonard Robert Willette (1921 – September 22, 1944) † was a World War II Tuskegee Airman fighter pilot. He was killed in action while flying over Germany escorting a group of American bombers.

Early life

Willette was born in Belleville, New Jersey to Lawerence and Leonora Willette, one of six siblings, and graduated from Belleville High School in 1939, where he competed on the school's track team.[1] After graduation, he attended New York University.[2] Willette had been granted a commission to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point by Senator William Warren Barbour, but turned down the opportunity in order to enlist into the Army Air Corps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.[1][2]

Military service

Willette earned his wings in February 1944. On September 22, 1944, he was flying a P-51 Mustang that was escorting a group of B-17s bombers on a mission to Munich, Germany when his plane lost oil pressure and crashed. Willette's body was later recovered and buried in a cemetery in Rechtmehring, Germany.[3] He was one of 66 Tuskegee Airmen killed in action during World War II.[1]

Legacy

On February 24, 2018, Willette's hometown of Belleville, New Jersey renamed a street in his honor.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kadosh, Matt. "Belleville Tuskegee Airman soars in history", The Record (Bergen County), February 21, 2018. Accessed March 3, 2018. "Willette, of the Tuskegee Airmen’s 99th Fighter Squadron, had died in the crash while escorting B-17 bombers over Germany in 1944. The 1939 Belleville High School graduate was one of 66 black Tuskegee Airmen killed in World War II combat."
  2. 1 2 Buccino, Anthony. " Remembering a Belleville Red Tail Pilot; As a new film premieres to tell the tale of the Red Tail pilots, we must remember the Belleville son who perished in battle in skies over Germany 66 years ago.", Belleville Patch, January 15, 2012. Accessed March 3, 2018. "The young man enlisted in the Army Air Corps while a student at New York University. He entered the service from New Jersey.He refused an appointment by the late Senator Barbour to West Point in order to get into active combat more quickly."
  3. ↑ "The Observer". February 27, 2018.
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