Staff Sergeant Harold Vance

The Tribune Seymour, Indiana
Monday, November 12, 1945
Page 1

B-17 Gunner, Listed Missing, Declared Dead

S/Sgt. Harold "Dei" Vance Had Completed 28 Missions Over German Territory

Mrs. Maude Vance, 607 Noble street, has received word from the War Department that her son, Staff Sergeant, Harold "Dei" Vance, who was reprted missing over Germany November 4, 1944, has been declared officially dead.

S/Sgt. Vance, who was serving as a tail gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress, had completed twenty-eight missions, it was learned, and was on a bombing mission over Hamburg, Germany, when two engines of the Flying Fortress wer hit and damaged.

According to the last word received from the crew, they were heading towards Holland and had decided to abandon the plane in the North Sea and await an air sea rescue. No further communication was received.

Awarded Air Medal.

S/Sgt. Vance, who was twenty-four years old, attended the Seumour schools, and, prior to his entrance into the Army Air Forces, was employed by Burnside-Box Contruction Company He had received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters for his services with the 8th Air Force, based in England. He leaves many friends in Seymour who mourn his death.

Besides his mother, he is survived by his widow, Mrs. May Edna Vance and two children, Johnny and Judy. Also surviving are two brothers, S/Sgt. Roy Vance, Jr. who is now home from Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Private Carl Vance, who is with the Army Air Forces in Hondo, Texas, and three sisters, Mrs. Peggy Barnes and Mrs. Jean Kelly, both of this city, and Mrs. James E. Carlein, of Indianapolis.

Memorial services for S/Sgt. Vance will be held in the near future.

The Tribune
Seymour, Indiana
Saturday, November 25, 1944
Page 1

S/SGT. HAROLD VANCE

Staff Sergeant Harold "Dei" Vance, husband of Mrs. Mary Edna Vance and son of Mrs. Maude Vance, 414 South Maple street, has been reported missing in action since November 4 over Germany, according to a message received recently by relatives here. He was stationed in England as a tail gunner on a B-17 flying Fortress heavy bomber and had completed thirty-seven missions. He holds the Air Medal and two oak leaf clusters.

The Tribune
Seymour, Indiana
Wednesday, December 19, 1945
Page 1

To Hold Vance Memorial Rites

Memorial services for Staff Sergeant Harold C. Vance, killed November 4, 1944, when his B-17 bomber was shot down into the North Sea, will be conducted from the Church of the Nazarene Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock. The Rev. Franklin M. Moore will be in charge.

Staff Sergeant Vance, who was the husband of Mrs. Mary Kelly Vance, entered the army air forces in August, 1943. He was the father of two children, Johnny and Judy.

He was the son of Mrs. Maude Vance, 606 Noble street.