Horace John Greeley was born on February 14, 1914, in Fort Leavenworth, Leavenworth County, Kansas. He was the son of Michael Nolan Greeley and Elizabeth Gertrude McKay Greeley. After graduating from Manual Training High School in Brooklyn and serving a year as a Private in the Coast Artillery at Fort Totten, he entered West Point in 1933 and graduated in 1937. Deeply committed to becoming an aviator, he persisted despite twice failing the Air Corps physical exam, eventually passing and earning his pilot wings after training at Randolph and Kelly Fields. Assigned to Mitchel Field, Long Island, for his first Air Corps posting. Hoping for a South American posting but finding none available, he instead requested and received an assignment to the Philippines, arriving in May 1940 and serving at Nichols Field. Later that year, he transferred to a bombardment squadron at Clark Field.

In February 1941, he was selected by the War Department to serve as Assistant Military Attaché for Air in Chungking, China, where he spent six months. Upon returning to Manila in the fall of 1941, he was assigned to the Headquarters of the Far Eastern Air Force, where he remained until the outbreak of war. When the planes and equipment were lost, Horace Greeley fought as an infantryman on Bataan, earning the Silver Star for leading a successful ground assault that repelled Japanese landing forces on the west coast. Captured after Bataan’s fall on April 9, 1942, he endured nearly three years of harsh imprisonment. He survived the sinking of the unmarked Japanese “Hell Ship” Oryoku Maru transporting him to Japan in 1944, and the bombing of the “Hell Ship” Enoura Maru, only to die in Camp Moji (Hospital) Fukuoka on January 31, 1945. He is now buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA.

Silver Star Citation:
(Citation Needed) – SYNOPSIS: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Major (Air Corps) Horace John Greeley (ASN: 0-20749), United States Army, for gallantry in action as a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group, V Interceptor Command, Far East Air Force, in action against the enemy in the defense of Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands, in 1942. Fighting as an Infantryman after all airplanes and equipment were destroyed or gone, Major Greeley led a ground attack against Japanese landing parties on Bataan’s west coast, and successfully prevented the enemy from making a landing. The gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty demonstrated by Major Greeley, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, alumni.westpointaog.org, valor.militarytimes.com