CHRONOLOGY
From the Harrisburg Evening News, 25 July 1942
WICONISCO — Two brothers of Wiconisco have enlisted in the Navy. They are Harold Coleman, of Palatka, Florida, who received a commission as junior lieutenant in the Navy and reported for training at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and Homer Coleman, of Sanford, Florida, a district manager of the Florida Power and Light Company, who received the commission of senior lieutenant in the United States Navy and reported for training 15 July 1942 at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, for a two month training course. He is a veteran of the First World War with nineteen months of service in the Army Signal Corps.
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From the Palatka Daily News [Florida], 13 September 1943.
Reported by navy authorities to his wife here as missing after a plane crashed in the river at Mayport early Saturday afternoon, during a routine training flight, grave fears were held for the safety of Lt. Harold Coleman (1909-1943), USNR, former resident of this city.
Bodies of three companions aboard the ill-fated plane have already been recovered and a search is being continued for Coleman, it was reported today, but so far efforts have been fruitless.
Employed here by the Florida Power & Light Company since 1933, Coleman entered the service July 30, 1942 and took his indoctrinal training at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He was transferred from Corpus Christi, Texas, to the Jacksonville Air Station on August 29, where he reported after spending a week here with his family.
Lieut. Coleman served as president of the junior chamber of commerce and is well known throughout the city.
His wife, the former Miss Virginia Lamb and small daughter, Connie Coleman, reside here….
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From the Palatka Daily News [Florida], 15 September 1943:
The body of Lt. Harold F. Coleman, USNR, was recovered from the St. Johns River yesterday, three days after a navy plane crashed near Mayport carrying Coleman and three companions to their deaths.
The bodies of the other three had previously been recovered.
Funeral arrangements had not yet been completed, pending advice from a brother, Lieut. Homer H. Coleman, USNR, formerly Sanford Manager for the Florida Power and Light Company, it was stated.
Besides his wife the former Virginia Lamb and small daughter Connie Coleman here and his brother in the Navy, a sister resides in Pennsylvania.
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From the Palatka Daily News [Florida], 16 September 1943:
Funeral services for Lt. Harold F. Coleman, USNR, will be held at 3 p.m. tomorrow in St. James Methodist Church with Rev. W. J. Churchwell officiating.
Burial will be made in Oak Hill East Cemetery with W. Carl Davis & Son in charge.
Born at Wiconisco, Pennsylvania, 34 years ago, he graduated as an electrical engineer from the University of Florida in 1933, since which time he had been employed by the Florida Power & Light Company in various parts of the state. He came to this city about eight years ago, where he resided until his enlistment in the Navy, reporting on July 1, 1943 at Cornell University for indoctrinal training. He studied communications at Cornell and Harvard and radar at Harvard and M.I.T., Boston, before being assigned to duty at Ward Island and Corpus Christi, Texas. He had been transferred to the Jacksonville Air Base, just a week prior to his death.
Besides the widow, the former Miss Virginia Lamb and small daughter here, he is survived by his father, H. L. Coleman, Wiconisco, Pennsylvania.; three brothers, Lt. H. H. Coleman, USNR, stationed in New York; Chester Coleman and John Coleman, Wiconisco; three sisters, Mrs. Henry Dardo and Mrs. Charles Daniels, Wiconisco and Mrs. Chester Houtz, Baltimore and his paternal grandfather.
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Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.
See also:
Grave Marker. Harold F. Coleman was born in 1909 in Wiconisco, Dauphin County,, Pennsylvania, and died 9 September 1943, in Palatka, Putnam County, Florida, as a result of a plane crash. He is buried at Oak Hill East Cemetery, Palatka. Findagrave #100920223.
World War II – Lykens and Wiconisco Homeoming Celebration, 1946