Tonomachi Posted February 23, 2018 Share #1 Posted February 23, 2018 I picked this up recently on eBay and the seller was nice enough to tell me (important clue) that this glider pilot wing came out of an estate sale in the Orlando area of Orange, Florida. The engraving says, "MARIE -V- CLIF-1943". So I thought I would give it a shot to see if I couldn't identify the glider pilot based on this information. So I went to the National WWII Glider Pilot Association website. There were something like 6000 total glider pilots trained during WWII. I don't know if they have all of the names listed but they have a bunch and I went through all of them from A through Z and copied down all of those with the first name of Clifford or Clifton. There were 28 listed glider pilots with these first names and some of these names came with other identifying information like a date of birth, date of death or last known home town. I started going through each name looking for a place of death or the name of their spouse. I went through ten names with no luck until I reached the eleventh and bingo I believe I found the former owner of this glider pilot wing. Former WWII glider pilot Clifford O'Brian HALLEY (15 Aug 1920 - 04 Jun 1998) passed away according to the Florida Death Index in Orange, Florida. What is strange is that there was no mention of his prior service as a glider pilot in his obituary: CLIFFORD O'BRIAN HALLEY, 77, 1055 Kensington Park, Altamonte Springs, died Thursday, June 4. Mr. Halley was a dental designer. Born in Minneapolis, he moved to Central Florida in 1971. He was Lutheran. Survivors: wife, Catherine; sons, John, Tom, Sam, all of Winter Park, Duncan, Jacksonville; daughters, Sandra Hollon, Kentucky, Muffie Wallace, Maine; six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren. Orlando Direct Cremation Service, Orlando. His widow still lives in the Orlando area of Florida at the age of 95. Her name does not match the female name on the back of the wing but I feel this was either a former girlfriend or the name of his first wife. Now I have two glider pilot wings in my collection that have been identified to a specific individual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patchcollector Posted February 23, 2018 Share #2 Posted February 23, 2018 That's a really nice Wing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntssurplus Posted February 23, 2018 Share #3 Posted February 23, 2018 Great wing! Thanks for sharing!Hunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagmanL6 Posted February 23, 2018 Share #4 Posted February 23, 2018 Congratulations. These items personalized to wives, girlfriends, etc. just have a special place. For me it really humanizes collecting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triplecanopy Posted February 23, 2018 Share #5 Posted February 23, 2018 What a great find. Persistent research pays off. You have a piece of history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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