Wayne Eugene Echelbarger was born on October 13, 1921, in Yorktown, Illinois. He was the son of Jess Lee and Ida Elsie Williford Echelbarger. He was married to Jean Delores Schneekloth Echelbarger. He served in the United States Army with the 740th Tank Battalion in World War II. Known as the “Daredevil Tankers”, the 740th was a separate battalion that fought from Utah Beach all the way to the Baltic Sea in support of various divisions of the US war effort.

Echelbarger was dischraged from the service and worked for 30 years at Northwestern Steel and Wire Company in Sterling. He was later spent 10 years as a real estate agent with Century 21 in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1998, he relocated to Clovis. He was a member of First United Methodist Church and remained active with the Senior Citizens Baxter-Curren Hall. He died on March 31, 2004, and is now buried in the Portales Cemetery, Portales, Roosevelt County, New Mexico, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.legacy.com