Wellington Generette Irving ★ World War II Gold Star Veteran from Mississippi

Wellington Generette Irving

World War II

On July 18, 1944 Second Lieutenant Irving was declared a casualty of World War II. ★ He served with honor in the United States Army Air Forces. ★ He is remembered by the people of Mississippi. ★ May his positive example inspire us. Working together towards peace, mutual respect, and equality for all.

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▼ Content Integrity Note

Our displayed data concerning the life and military history of Wellington Generette Irving is a work in progress. We've assembled a list of elements we are in the process of researching and reviewing. This profile was last edited on 2023-06-12 01:04:38.

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Missing : Core Data

· Special awards and honors
· Date of tour or service

Missing : Supplemental Data

· Birth + childhood location
· Educational background
· Marriage history
· Parents, family history
· Expanded references and citations

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Service Details

This Profile ID	323446
Service ID	O-817589
Name	Wellington Generette Irving
From	Belzoni, Humphreys County, Mississippi
Birth Date	July 29, 1920
Casualty Date	July 18, 1944
War	World War II
Service Branch	Army Air Forces
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Specialty	Pilot
Unit/Group	332nd Fighter Group, 301st Fighter Squadron
Casualty Type	Hostile, Died while Missing
Location	Germany
Burial	Vicksburg National Cemetery, Mississippi
Notable Awards	★ Purple Heart
Remembered	Wellington Generette Irving is buried or memorialized at Vicksburg National Cemetery, Mississippi. This is a National American Cemetery administered through the Department of Veteran's Affairs.

Additional Details

Wellington G Irving was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen. He graduated from flight training on December 5, 1943, at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. He was sent to Italy in February, 1944 to serve in the 301st Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group.

Early in the morning of July 18, 1944, the 332nd took off to escort bombers to Memmingen airdrome. As the formation approached the Udine and Treviso areas, they were attacked by 30-35 ME-109s and FW-190s. In the encounter, the group shot down 11 enemy planes and damaged another. There were some losses for the 332nd. Lieutenant Irving failed to return to the base with the rest of the flight. He was last seen in the Kempton area.

Commendations + Awards

Please note this might not be a complete or completely accurate accounting. For some awards we use probability factors based on known service details. Thanks for your understanding.

★ Purple Heart

★ United States Aviator Badge Army

★ World War II Victory Medal

★ American Campaign Medal

★ Army Presidential Unit Citation

★ Army Good Conduct Medal

★ European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign

Notable Reference Sources

These are typically links to pages on external sites that have provided specific nodes of information. In most cases the information has some assurance of being crowd-sourced and vetted by a community of users.

findagrave.com/ memorial/ 6493711/ wellington-g-irving

Mississippi Gold Star Veterans Gallery

Honoring the men and women of Mississippi who gave their all for their country. May their example of courage and sacrifice be our guide. To be strong and responsible in our lives as citizens of the world. Through honest daily actions, we honor them.

▼ Mississippi was home to over 6,295 American Gold Star veterans from 4 wars of the 20th Century. Some significant statistics:

• 972 World War I
• 4,244 World War II
• 440 Korean War
• 639 Vietnam War
• 103 Prisoners of war
• 947 Missing in action
• 25 Pearl Harbor casualties
• 46 D-Day Normandy casualties
• 2 Medal of Honor recipients

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National Archives (NARA) Library of Congress (LOC) Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) Findagrave.com Ancestry.com

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On May 27, 2019 the Honor States group was proud to be a part of our premier Memorial Day parade hosted by the District of Columbia and sponsored by the American Veteran Center. Together with Spirit of 45 and dozens of enthusiastic kids, the float and banner in tribute to the fallen at Normandy proved memorable and moving.

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