2nd Lt Alwayne M. Dunlap
1920 – February 21, 1944
Class: 43-C-SE
Graduation Date: March 25, 1943
Graduation Rank: 2nd Lt
Unit: 332nd Fighter Group, 99th Fighter Squadron
Service # 0-798946
Dunlap of Washington, D.C., graduated from flight training on March 25, 1943, at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. He deployed to North Africa with the 99th Fighter Squadron in April; the squadron flew its first combat mission on June 2, 1943.
A reporter from The Afro-American, a Baltimore newspaper, was also at the North African base, and interviewed the second lieutenant after his first mission.
“It was just like the practice dives except for the bursting of flak all around my plane,” Dunlap told the reporter. “Of course, I was nervous, but more because I was cognizant of it being my first mission and my desire to make good than of what I expected to face in the way of flak.”
The mission that day was to strafe enemy positions.
“Flak broke out and I began kicking rudder,” Dunlap said. “It exploded above me and below me, rocking the plane from concussions. I could see the puffs of bluish-white smoke above and behind my wing. The signal for the bomb run was given and I followed my element leader down. After he dropped his bomb, I gave a burst of fire from the six .50-caliber guns, leveled out and dropped my bomb.
“Now that the first mission is over, I shall have no fear.”
Dunlap’s story was published a few days before he was killed.
On Feb. 21, 1944, Dunlap overshot a landing strip on the Anzio, Italy, beachhead and crashed.
Alwayne M. Dunlap is buried or memorialized at Plot D Row 14 Grave 7, Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.
According to a government database, Dunlap was awarded a Purple Heart for his military service.
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