WYOMING — Ahead of Memorial Day, Wyoming Senators Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso introduced a resolution to the Senate honoring the crew of the Star Valley, a U.S. Army Air Corps B-24 Liberator that crashed in France during World War II.
The B-24 Liberator Star Valley was named in honor of 25-year-old Sergeant Wilford Taylor Heninger of Afton, Wyoming, who died in a training flight in Wendover, Utah, on Sept. 21, 1943. Heninger joined the National Guard in 1940.
The Star Valley crashed near Saint-Leonard-en Beauce, France on Feb. 5, 1944, just about four months after Henninger’s death, with 10 service members of the 44th Bomb Group, 68th Bomber Squadron of the Air Force, on board. The crew had set out on its eighth mission behind enemy lines, before being intercepted by German aircraft.
Nine crew members died in the crash; First Lieutenants Carl A. Bohnisch, John S. Giffin and Hubert J. Ede; Second Lieutenant Harold W. Spink, Technical Sergeants William F. Leverich and Bernard A. Ohler; Staff Sergeants Eugene C. Edgerton, Kenneth E. Hall and Joseph E. Morin. Staff Sergeant Warren E. Klein survived the crash using his parachute and was reportedly rescued by French villagers, but was captured by German forces hours later and held as a prisoner of war until liberation in 1945.
The French village of Saint Leonard-en-Beauce honors the sacrifice of the crew of the Star Valley during the Liberation Day Ceremony on May 8 every year.
“Afton’s Sergeant Wilford T. Heninger served our country and Wyoming with distinction. He left a legacy of service, dedication and patriotism for future generations to emulate,” Barrasso said. “Our resolution honors the crew of the Star Valley B-24, Sergeant Heninger, and all the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War II.”
“The crew of the Star Valley represented our state triumphantly and served our nation with great honor and distinction,” Lummis said. “These men and their families made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our great country and our resolution ensures their memory and unwavering dedication to defending the freedoms we hold so dear lives on.”
The resolution states that “it is the sense of the Senate that (1)the crew of the Star Valley served the United States with honor and distinction and represents the very best of the United States; and (2) the United States honors the brave members of the United States Army Air Corps and their families and will never forget the services such members rendered and the sacrifices they made in defense of the United States.”
According to Senator Lummis’s Communications Director Stacey Daniels, the resolution has been put on the hotline, meaning it could pass by unanimous consent quickly.
