"It seems mine was the death room, each new patient brought in being very sick, no one surviving while I was there." (Memoir, page 28)

Harold W. Riley

Harold Riley [1918] War: World War I, 1914-1920 Branch: Army Air Forces/Corps Unit: 24th Aero Squadron Service Location: France; Germany Rank: First Lieutenant POW: Yes Place of Birth: Minneapolis, MN

When the United States entered World War I, Harold Riley wrote, "I believed that the excitement and thrills of military action could be better appreciated from close contact, with real fighting." Although his father had just been diagnosed with diabetes, Riley's family urged him to serve. He became a pilot in the newly formed Army Air Corps, dropping propaganda leaflets behind enemy lines and scouting for ground troop movements. In October 1918, his plane was shot down, and his observer, Sam Keesler, was killed. (Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi was later named for him.) Riley spent most of his brief time in captivity--the war ended a month later--under medical care for his wounds.