Grant Turley was born on 18 June 1922 in Aripine, Arizona.  His father, Fred, owned the Sundown Ranch, and his mother, Wilma, gave birth to Grant in their family home on the ranch. Grant had a brother named Stan, and three sisters (Wanda, Monita, and Marilyn.) The family belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Grant attended the local grade school in Aripine.  He attended High School in Snowflake, Arizona, where he stayed with relatives.  When school was not in session, Grant returned to the family ranch where he lived the life of a cowboy.  He loved his horse Comet.

Grant was an outstanding student, and he particularly liked math and science.  He was the class Valedictorian when he graduated in1940.  Grant also was an outstanding athlete.  He was named to the Arizona All State Football Team; he was the Captain of the track and field team; and, he played on the basketball team.  In the Fall of 1940, Grant went to Brigham Young University on a football scholarship.  However, he suffered a knew injury that ended his football career, and decided to return home where he liked the weather better.  He spent the Spring Semester of 1941 at the Eastern Arizona Junior College.  While there, he took flying lessons and learned how to fly an airplane. In the autumn of 1941, Grant enrolled at the Arizona State Teacher’s College in Tempe, Arizona. While there, he took up boxing. Then in December, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and America found itself at war.

In May 1942, Grant volunteered for the US Army Air Force’s Aviation Cadet Program, and he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 25 March 1943.  He married his high school sweetheart, Kathleen (Kitty) Ballard. Kitty was able to stay with Grant in Tallahassee, Florida for about three months before he shipped to Europe in early August of 1943.

Grant was assigned to the 82nd Fighter Squadron of the 78th Fighter Group, based at Duxford Air Base in England.  He flew a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter.  He named it after his wife Kitty, and he painted the crest of his family’s ranch underneath her name.  For good luck, he kept a picture of Kitty in the cockpit, along with a lock from the mane of his horse Comet.

Grant flew nearly 50 missions during the war.  He not only earned a Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, but he also became an Ace, having shot down five German aircraft. In fact, he nearly qualified to as a Double Ace since he was ultimately credited with seven planes shot from the air and two destroyed on the ground.

On 6 March 6 1944, Grant was escorting bombers together with three other P-47s in formation.  Near Bremen, they were high in the sky above when they spotted several FW 109 German fighters approaching the bombers beneath them.  The P47s dived to attack the Germans.  Grant shot down of the German fighters, but just as he did so, another German fighter got behind him.  Grant’s plane was hit several times, and it plunged to the ground near Barenberg. Grant was 22 years old, and his widow Kitty was 20.  Following the war, Grant’s sister Wanda wrote a book about him.  (See link below)

The information above was drawn from http://www.ulongbeach.com/Turley.html, the Imperial War Museum, http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/83124, and Wanda Turley Smith, Lt. Grant M. Turley:  Ace Fighter Pilot WWII, Legend Express Publishing.