Harry L. Lamb

Harry Leslie Lamb was born April 8, 1920, in Erie, Pa. He passed of natural causes on March 30, 2015, in Fairfax, Va. He was the son of Harry Rollison Lamb and Mary Louise Supiran-Hadsell-Smith, both of Erie. He graduated from Academy High School in Erie in the class of 1939. In September 1939 he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and became a weather observer and aircraft mechanic. When World War II broke out he was selected for flight training, was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant and received his navigator wings in August 1943. He was assigned to the 450th Bomb Group, 720th Squadron, Manduia, Italy, and was the navigator on his 10-man B-24H crew in their aircraft called The Joker. He flew 22 combat missions during the war. On April 5, 1944, his aircraft along with 39 others from the 450th Bomb Group departed on a raid of the Ploesti marshaling yards and industrial area in Romania. Five of the group’s B-24’s were shot down, including Harry’s. His aircraft was hit by ground-fired artillery and machine guns fired by German ME-190 fighters and was downed. Harry and all but two of his crewmates bailed out and were captured and interned in a German prison camp in Bucharest, Romania. He was liberated from the prison camp on Sept. 1, 1944, was flown to Italy and later returned to the United States as a repatriated POW. He flew several missions in the Pacific theater as part of the Air Transport Command before returning to Wright-Patterson AFB, where he was discharged from the Army Air Corps on Oct. 11, 1945.
Harry attended the Pennsylvania State University in June 1946 and worked as a waiter and dishwasher until his graduation in June 1948, when he was awarded a bachelor’s degree in economics. In 1949, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he attended and worked at Georgetown University and received his master’s degree in Economics in 1952. He worked for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1951 to 1958. On Sept. 20, 1954, he married the former Gloria Jacqueline Aucker of Rimersburg, Pa. They had three children: Michael Reed Lamb, Laura Marie Lamb and Craig Rollison Lamb. He worked for the Department of the Navy from 1958 to 1961 and then joined the Federal Aviation Administration later in 1961. In 1966, while assigned to the Federal Aviation Administration, the family moved to Panama, where he helped various Central and South American countries plan airports. The family returned to Falls Church, Va., in 1966 where they made their home until 2004. They were members of the congregation of Redeemer Lutheran Church in McLean, Va. In 2004 Harry and Gloria moved to The Virginian in Fairfax, Va.
Harry was an avid fan of the arts, taking courses in art history. He enjoyed painting in watercolors, charcoal and acrylics, taking many classes and selling some paintings to the public. He was also an avid photographer specializing in black-and-white photography, developing film and making prints in his own darkroom. In 1982 he retired after 36 years from federal service as a GM-15 from the Federal Aviation Administration.
After retirement Harry took on part-time jobs and became involved in the American Ex-Prisoner of War (AXPOW) organization, where he served for a time as commander of the Bill Rolen Memorial Chapter, the 450th Bomb Group Association and a member of American Legion Post 270 in McLean. He attended many World War II, AXPOW, 450th BG and Association of Former Prisoners of War in Romania events and reunions. Harry and Gloria once hosted Princess Catherine Olympia Caradja of Romania, who traveled the United States after the war to visit with former Romania POWs.
Harry was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Gloria Jacqueline Lamb, on Sept. 19, 2004, and his sister, Dorothy Lamb Zefferer, on July 13m 1986. He is survived by his son Michael Reed Lamb and his wife Deborah Cogle Lamb and two children, Megan Elizabeth Lamb and Alyson Reed Lamb; his daughter Laura Marie Lamb Wickline and her husband John Wickline and daughter Natalie Rose Wickline; and his son Craig Rollison Lamb and his wife Connie Kuniko Lamb Kuramoto.
Harry will be inurned at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.