Cpl. Henry M. Hoppe was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 26, 1921, to Gottfried Hoppe and Katie Herdt-Hoppe and had a sister and two brothers. His family resided at 28 South 15th Avenue, Maywood, Illinois. He graduated from Washington School and attended Proviso Township High School for two years. After leaving school, he worked as a press operator at W. A. Jones Foundry & Machine Company in Chicago. He was engaged to Corinne Culotta.
Henry registered with Selective Service on February 16, 1942, and named his mother as his contact person. He also stated he was living at 117 South Tenth Avenue in Maywood. Knowing he would be drafted into the Army, he enlisted in The US Army Air Corps on November 11, 1942, in Chicago. He was issued the serial number 16 080 377. It is also known that he trained San Antonio Aviation Academy, Texas, he attended radio school at Sioux Falls, Idaho, Gunnery School, Yuma, Arizona, before training at Biggs Airfield, New Mexico. He was assigned to the crew of a B-24 Liberator. Other members of the crew were 2nd Lt. Walter M. Slont, pilot, 2nd Lt. Wendall M. Campbell, co-pilot, 2nd Lt. Frederick O. Dehm, navigator, F/O John Senkaveck, Cpl. Willis Wade, radio operator, Henry, gunner/radio operator, Cpl. Lawrence M. Herbert, gunner, Cpl. Buster Rodriguez, gunner, and Cpl. Lawrence J. Slovensky, gunner. Being that they were still training, they were not members of any active unit.
Information is very skimpy but what is known is that his bomber was flying practice runs, on June 20, 1944, near Roswell, New Mexico, when Henry’s plane collided with another plane. The details of what happened are not known. All the members of Henry’s crew died in the collision, while all the members, but one man, from the other crew bailed out of their plane and survived. The one man who died in the other plane may have died when the planes collided.
Services for Cpl. Henry M. Hoppe were held at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bellwood, Illinois. Afterward he was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois, on July 26, 1944, with full military honors. The firing squad and pallbearers were from Vaughan General Hospital located just outside of Maywood.
