Name:
Ernest Buford Lay
Rank:
Sergeant
Serial Number:
14064285
Unit:
486th Bomber Squadron, 340th Bomber Group
Date of Death:
1944-11-05
State:
Virginia
Cemetery:
Florence American Cemetery, Impruneta, Italy
Plot:
Tablets of the Missing
Row:
Grave:
Decoration:
Air Medal, Purple Heart
Comments:
Ernest Buford Lay was born on October 13, 1919, in Shiloh, Florida. He was the son of Eugene Ernest Lay and Rena C. Hankins Lay.
Eugene enlisted in the Air Corps on November 13, 1941, in Florida. He served in the 486th Bomber Squadron, 340th Bomber Group, Medium, as a Sergeant during World War II.
The tail gunner on the B-25 #43-27709 'Schnapps Yoyo,' Sgt Lay was declared Missing in Action on November 5, 1944, when his airplane disappeared during the mission to bomb a rail bridge south of Padua, Italy. His name is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing, Florence American Cemetery, Impruneta, Italy. He also has a cenotaph located in the Pinecrest Cemetery in Florida.