Noel Coffey

Born in Australia to an American father and Australian mother, Noel Coffey was brought to Oakland, California at the age of nineteen months, where he finished high school. He was known as a promising figure skater, winning a number of amateur prizes; after finishing high school, he went professional, appearing with Sonja Henie in one of her shows. With war being declared against Germany and Japan, Noel enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Corps on July 13, 1942, and soon received a commission as a Second Lieutenant, assigned as co-pilot on the "Buzz Wagon" a B-25 (#41-12928) with the 446th Bombardment Squadron, 321st Bombardment Group, 57th Bombardment wing, 12th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Force. He, with the rest of his crew, was killed during a non-battle related incident when the "Buzz Wagon" crashed in a "Test Hop" near Ain M'Lila (Tunisia/North Africa). He was buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California.