Kenneth H. Wakley was born on November 19, 1917. He was the son of Lynn H Wakley.
Kenneth served in the 310th Troop Carrier Squadron, 315th Troop Carrier Group, as a First Lieutenant and Pilot of the C-47 #43-15612 "Sea Ration" in World War II.
On September 21, 1944, their aircraft took off from RAF Spanhoe in Northamptonshire, England, carrying 11 Polish Paratroopers. The aircraft was due to drop the paratroops in the Arnhem area as part of Operation Market Garden.
The drop zone was reached at 1700 hours and the Squadron encountered considerable flak and a number of airplanes were hit, but, in spite of the flak, all planes dropped their loads of Polish troopers. The heavily burdened Polish troops took longer to clear the airplanes than was estimated and this prevented the formation from turning as soon as planned and, as a result, when they did complete their turn they found themselves over the town of Elst where they were pounded by severe flak. The aircraft dove down to get as close to the ground as possible to avoid the German fire. Five airplanes were shot down and several others landed at nearby airstrips because of severe damage. 1/Lt Wakley’s aircraft was seen to go down, crashing on the outskirts of Reek. In the Summer of 1944, Kenneth Wakley had married his English girlfriend, Doreen Villars, she never saw him again after they returned from a brief honeymoon.
Crew of the “Sea Ration”:
1/Lt. Kenneth H. WAKLEY - Pilot - Killed
2/Lt. Bruce W. BORTH – Co-Pilot - Killed
2/Lt. Milan C. BEERMAN – Navigator - Killed
T/Sgt. Magnus R. LUDVIKSON – Aerial Engineer - Killed
S/Sgt. Carl L. JAVORSKY – Radio Operator - Killed
Polish Paratroopers:
2/Lt. W. Gopeik
Cpl. Z. Janiuk
Cpl. B. Mrogzkowski
L/Cpl. L. Dalcnski
L/Cpl. S. Pyrek
Pte. T. Podgarski
Pte. A. Zoike
Pte. Z. Galasick
Pte. M. Mialyk
Pte. R. Molszewski
Pte. M. Baranowski
1Lt Wakley is now buried in the Niagara Falls Memorial Park, Lewiston, Niagara County, New York, USA.
Source of information: www.findagrave.com, https://scarletboy44.tumblr.com