Lance LaGrange - KIA

Preferred Name: Lance
Date of Birth: March 9, 1945
Highest Military Grade: 0-2 – First Lieutenant
Hometown: Maspeth, NY
Headed West Date: July 2, 1968

Lance La Grange was raised in Maspeth, NY and graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. He graduated at the top of his USAF pilot training class 68A at Craig AFB and flew F- 100’s with the with the 306th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 31st Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th Air Force at Tuy Hoa AB, Vietnam.

His first operational assignment was flying F- 100s with the  306th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 31st Tactical Fighter Wing at Tuy Hoa AB, Vietnam. His combat tour began on June  6, 1968.  He had been in Vietnam for less than a month when he was killed on July 2, 1968.  Lance was the “sole surviving son” of a WWII fighter pilot who was also KIA.(1)

Lance met his bride Charlene (Charley) from Utica, NY during college. In 1983, Charlene suffered a fatal stroke while flying from Charlotte to Albany, NY.

Source: (1) https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/29233/LANCE-LA-GRANGE/