Wallace G. Wickes

Rank: Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Forces

Serial Number: 13126557

Hometown: Collingswood, New Jersey

Killed: May 21, 1943, McBee, South Carolina

Buried: Harleigh Cemetery, Haddon Avenue, Camden, New Jersey

Sergeant Wallace Gordon Wickes was born in Egg Harbor, New Jersey on August 1, 1922. He was the son of Harry Wickes and his wife, the former Dorothy Hand. The Wickes had separated by 1940. Wallace Wickes attended Haddonfield and Collingswood High Schools in Camden County, New Jersey, participating in track and football at both schools. He was to graduate from Collingswood High, but prior to graduation enlisted in the United States Army on October 9, 1942 in Philadelphia. Wallace Wickes qualified for service in the Air Corps. He trained at Lowry Field, where he was top of his class. While undergoing gunnery training at McBee, South Carolina, he was killed when the fighter he was flying in crashed.

Sergeant Wickes was survived by his mother, Mrs. Dorothy Wickes of 26 Cresmont Terrace, Collingswood, and two brothers, Harry Wickes Jr., who was serving in the Navy, and Byron Wickes II. His death was reported in the May 26, 1943 edition of the Camden Courier-Post. His name appears on the World War II War Memorial at Knight’s Park in Collingswood, NJ.