Wayne County

Henry R. Bettis

H. R. Bettis Killed in Plane Crash

Flight Officer Henry R. Bettis, husband of the former Agnes Whannel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Whannel, 510 Baltimore street, here, was among the 10 men killed Tuesday in a crash of a Liberator bomber near the airbase at Mountain Home, Ida., according to a wire release Wednesday.

Bettis was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Millard Bettis, Corydon, Ia. His wife had been living with him in Idaho, and will return to Iowa with the body Thursday. Funeral services will be in Corydon.

Trained at Cedar Falls.

He had trained at Santa Ana, Cal, at Iowa State Teacher college, Cedar Falls, Carlsbad, N. M. and Boise, Ida. It was reported that he was preparing for overseas duty.

He married Agnes Whannel in October, 1944, having met her when training in Cedar Falls.

Mrs. Whannel, mother-in-law of Bettis, will leave here Wednesday evening for Corydon.

Cause Unrevealed.

No specific information on the crash has been revealed.

Col. John H. Gibson, airbase commander, announced that a search crew had reached the scene of another crash near Denlo, Ore., and had found the plane burned. Fate of the crew of nine reported missing since last Friday, was not disclosed.

Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Sunday, March 07, 1945, Page 2

Henry R. Bettis was born June 15, 1923 to Millard A. and Goldie M. Bettis. He died Mar. 6, 1945.

Flight Officer Bettis served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps and died in Mountain Home, Idaho in an aircraft accident.

Source: ancestry.com