December 1921 â June 2021
Maj. Wayne Devern Corbin, USAF (ret) was a second of two sons born to Cleo (Wing) Corbin and Orval Corbin in Waterloo, Indiana on either 9 or 10 December 1921 (the delivering doctor filled out the birth certificate with 10 December, but Cleo always insisted that it was 9 December and knew she was right because, after all, she was there).
When he was 19, Wayne and his cousin went down to the local recruiting station to join the Army Air Force. Wayne was accepted and soon found himself in training to fly B-17âs. His plane, The Blue Champagne, was riddled with flak on his 18th mission. The crew bailed out and Wayneâs left ankle was broken when he hit the ground. The entire crew was captured by the Germans, spent the next 13 months in Stalag Luft 1 prison camp, until they were liberated by the Russian Army.
On Memorial Day, we remember the lives of servicemen and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice, but also the life of a local man who witnessed some of the worst loss of life.
Maria Gonzalez, a military spouse, has made it her mission to help place American flags next to as many headstones as possible leading up to Memorial Day.