Obituary of William Henry Langley

OBITUARY NOTICE FOR WILLIAM HENRY LANGLEY, JR.

                   Of Sweetwater Oaks, Ocala, Florida

William Henry Langley was born July 6, 1917, in Baltimore, Maryland, at home.  Father, William Henry Langley, Sr., Mother, Anne Mary Elizabeth (Starker) Langley.  Mr. Langley is survived by his wife Dolores (Clark) Langley of 35 years, daughter Dolores French, Stepchildren, Ronald Schulze, Timothy Strickland, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren also survive him. 

Mr. Langley was predeceased by Charlotte, his wife of 39 years and by sister Myrle (Langley) Simmons.  Having lived in Glen Burnie, MD, Port Charlotte, Fl and Ocala, Fl, Bill has SPECIAL friends that survive him.   Other close friends are too numerous to mention.  Most of his friends in his age group are deceased.

Bill worked for 20 years for Wisekittle designing and making REAL HOST GAS STOVES.  The company was then sold to METAL MASTERS where Bill continued his engineering skills designing and making stainless steel restaurant equipment.  He retired at the age of 60 due to Metal Master moving out of Maryland to relocate in Delaware.

Bill was drafted in December 1942 and sent to Atlantic City, NJ, for basic training.  Due to the cold weather in January, many suffered from frostbite to their ears.  After basic training Bill was sent to Camp Crowder, MO, for sixteen weeks to be trained as a radio operator in the Radio Signal Corp., U.S. ARMY AIR CORP.  Next stop was Reno, NV, and then on to Sacramento, CA,  Air Base.  In 1944 he was then sent to Africa, Italy and on to Bombay India.  From Bombay, Bill traveled by train to an Air Base 60 miles north of Calcutta, India.  This is where Bill permanently injured his knee when diving into a bomb shelter during a Japanese bomb raid.  Serving as a radio operator, Bill flew over the “HUMP” to China, where they refueled and made the first B29 Super Fortress raid over Tokyo, Japan on June 18, 1944.  On one of these missions, the plane was on fire and they were going to bail out over the China Sea.  They were able to extinguish the fire and continue back to the base.  From India, the next stop was Australia and then on to Okinawa.  Bill returned home in January 1946. NOTE:  Bill had been all around the world and has never missed his shave per day and has never drunk coffee.  WOW!  THANK YOU BILL!

Arrangements by Hiers-Baxley Funeral Services, Ocala, FL 352-629-7171