Col. Eugene Dye Wallace, Retired U.S. Air Force

Colonel Eugene D. Wallace, USAF Ret., passed away at the age of 94 on the morning of May 4th 2014 in his Laguna Beach home with his family at his side. He is survived by his sister, Lavinia Carlton, his four daughters Linda Wallace, Fran Wallace, Janet Schafer and Barbara Jensen, his seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and his three brothers, Neil, Gordon and Rollin Wallace. Also preceding him was his true love and devoted partner in life Eileen Wallace, his infant daughter Ann Elizabeth, and beloved sons Kendall Eugene and Scott Alan Wallace. Kendall graduated from USC and entered the Air Force. In 1981 at age 25 he was on a low altitude training flight in Colorado when his B-52 crashed killing all eight members of the crew. Three weeks later his younger brother Scott died in an off-road motorcycle accident. "Gene" was born in July of 1919 in Toppenish, Washington, the second son of Herman and Mae Wallace who managed an apple growing business. The family relocated to Southern California and in the following two decades he and his siblings experienced an evolving and fascinating Los Angeles. The hallmarks of hard work, kindness, accountability, sense of adventure, and love of learning that so identified him in later years were established then. As a kid he sold papers in the streets of Los Angeles, prospected for gold in his father's mining claim, built a home-made hot air balloon with his brothers. Captivated by the concept of flight, he and a few of his Los Angeles City College classmates (among them Gene Roddenberry) formed an aero club. He earned a private pilot's license in 1940 at the age of 21. In the spring of 1941 he entered the Army Air Corps Flying Cadet program and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant pilot. His 22nd Bomb Group was given "Go to War" orders the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. They deployed to Australia and commenced bombing runs against the Japanese held islands of New Guinea. On May 24th, 1942 he co-piloted a low level air attack on the bomber base at Rabaul, New Britain Island. His two engine B-26 Marauder aircraft was damaged by ground fire resulting in a nearby water crash landing. The crew of eight was declared "missing in action" for the next ten months. Two died in the water landing; two others evaded capture for three months until captured by hostile natives and executed by the Japanese; one died of hunger and sickness in the jungle. Col. Wallace and two others were rescued at night by a heroic Australian Catalina seaplane crew March 25, 1943 despite the presence of nearby Japanese troops. Gene received three combat medals: the Silver Star, the Soldier's Medal and a Purple Heart. Suffering from the ill effects of living in such harsh circumstances he was hospitalized intermittently from 1943 to 1945 at Santa Ana Army Air Base in California. During this period he was assigned to promote the war effort. As an early returnee from combat he gave many talks at war industrial plants to encourage full production and was a "war orientation" lecturer and flight safety officer. On temporary duty at 20th Century Fox he functioned as the technical advisor for the film "Purple Heart". He was selected as commanding officer of Women Army Corps (WAC) recruiting units for Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the San Fernando Valley areas. Health regained, smiling images of young Capt. Wallace were used in public relations brochures. His biggest smiles, however, were reserved for a somewhat shy, sweet natured, pretty blonde girl from Upland, CA. He had met Eileen Kendall while training as a cadet. She had written him steadfastly all the ten months he had been on the island. They married in July of 1944, raised four daughters and two sons, traveled the continents and lived in Japan, England and several U.S. states. In her quiet way Eileen was his "rock of Gibraltar". His nickname for her was "Island". His 28 year service in the air force included many duties including: pilot, personnel, meteorologist, public relations, recruiting, Transport Squadron Commander, Group Inspector General, Deputy Commander Operations Heavy Transport Wing, Senior Advisor to Reserve Transport Wing, Weather Station Commander Korean War and Transport pilot in Vietnam. He logged over 7000 flight hours in 19 aircraft models built by 12 companies. He piloted propeller planes with one, two and four engines and jets with one, two, and six engines. This flying took him all over the world including most European countries and U.S. states plus more than two dozen other countries and islands. He had interesting experiences such as Soviet atomic dust collecting and a weather mission from Alaska which led to a flight over the North Pole. Gene was a member of several groups over the years. He joined the Masonic Lodge in 1944, became an early member of the Adventurer's Club of Los Angeles having been invited due to his harrowing war experience which was chronicled by Life Magazine. In later years he became active in the Freedom Committee of Orange County through which he gave speeches at high schools. He also attended weekly breakfast meetings with other World War II pilots. Upon retirement in 1970 as a full Colonel, Gene decided to embark on another career…as an elementary school teacher. He returned to college and completed his B.A. at Chapman University and his Masters at Pepperdine University. Over the next 23 years he taught over 700 children in Yorba Linda, CA. in grades from 3rd to 6th. A born story teller he captivated the students and had many "my favorite teacher" notes. Periodically the family has been contacted by ex-students who as adults expressed gratitude for the life changing impact of his teaching. Gene and Eileen were devoted to their six children. He was an exceptional role model. When asked, those who knew him would describe him as: kind, good-hearted, wise with a remarkable reservoir of knowledge in all things historical, mechanical or aeronautical, generous, deliberative and thoughtful, safety conscious, good-natured with a sense of humor, dutiful to both country and family, admired and respected, steady, considerate, caring to animals, principled. He had a broad and practical perspective of history and an intuitive understanding of human nature. He was greatly loved and will be missed. Be sure to view the Tribute of Honor slideshow produced by McCormick & Son Mortuary at: http://videos.lifetributes.com/496588