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777. Pensacola's June Loss 6-19-1944 WWII

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Updated: Feb 26, 2022

US Navy LTjg Lawrence Harvey Harpold was born in Brazil, Clay County, Indiana on January 13, 1916, the son of Harvey Anthem Harpold (1878-1935) and Margaret Ellen Barnes (1879-1948). Lawrence's father spent his entire life as a coal miner in Indiana and would pass away from a heart attack in 1935. His mother would follow her husband in 1948 from high blood pressure. Their son Lawrence would grow up and graduate from Brazil High School before enrolling in Indiana University in Bloominton, Indiana. Upon his graduation in 1939, he went to work for the Ben Hur Life Association in Crawfordsville, Indiana, which had been established in 1894.


Lawrence would enlist in the US Navy V-5 program on August 6, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois. This program was initiated in 1935 and allowed men to volunteer as a naval reservist to train as an aviation cadet with the rank of Seaman 2nd Class. These young men were from 19 to 25 years of age with an associate college degree or at least two years of college. They would have to obtain their bachelor's degree within six years after graduation to keep their commission. Training was set at 18 months and they had to agree not to marry during their training and would have to promise to serve three or more years of active duty.


He reported into the program at the US Naval Reserve base in New Orleans, Louisiana in November 1941. He would then report into NAS Pensacola for flight training on February 18, 1942 and would receive his commission that August. During his tour of duty in Pensacola he would meet a young Pensacolian by the name of Miss Edith Marie "Peggy" Wise (1922-1971), the daughter of John Edward "Wiston" Wise (1895-1968) and Melissa L. Victoria Penton. Her parents had split up in 1931 and her father had remarried in 1932 to Myra Mae Martin (1896-1981). By her wedding, her father and step mother were living at 3131 East Cervantes Street. Her father had been supporting them his whole life in construction and by 1940 was a building inspector. In the meantime, Lawrence and Peggy were married on June 29, 1943 while he was being retained at NAS as an instructor at Bronson Field. On December 20, 1943, LTjg Harpold and Peggy left their home at Paradise Beach and reported into Norfolk, Virginia to his new duty station as flight instructor. He would be flying out of Chincoteague NAS that had only recently opened. As he was arriving, another navy aviator was just leaving. George H. W. Bush had been flying with Torpedo Squadron (YT-51) at the time he was called on the carpet for "buzzing" the home of a young lady that he had met at a dance. His youthful antic had caused an elephant with a nearby circus to stampede into a surrounding neighborhood thus the reprimand.


While there, Lawrence and Peggy were living in Pokomoke City, Maryland, a mere 22 miles from the base at Chincoteague. Then, on June 19, 1944 Lawrence was killed in a plane crash. Peggy was notified of his death and forced to set about making arrangements for his burial in the Clearview Cemetery in Posey, Clay County, Indiana. Peggy would remarry on July 6, 1946 to a naval officer, Henry L. Basler in Brevard, Florida. Peggy would pass away in 1971 and was buried in St. John's Cemetery in Pensacola.


















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