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Remember...Dale Clarke Bailey
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| Dale Clarke Bailey was born March 16, 1944, in Washington, Pennsylvania, to Roy William and Susie Mae Ryan Bailey. He was the fifth and youngest of the Bailey children, which included brothers Ralph Vernon, Gerald William and Kenneth Ray. A sister, Betty, died in infancy in 1931. At the time of Dale's birth, the family lived in Francis Mine, an unincorporated coal camp about eighteen miles from Washington, near Burgettstown. |  Dale Clarke Bailey at age 5 |
 Dale Clarke Bailey, high school graduate, 1962 |
In 1955, the Bailey family moved to Hines, Greenbrier County, West Virginia, where Roy Bailey had found work at a surface mine. Dale attended grades six through eight at Rupert and, after the family moved to Cedar Grove, grades nine through twelve at Cedar Grove. He graduated from Cedar Grove High School in 1962. |
| After completing high school, Dale Bailey entered West Virginia Institute of Technology, where he majored in Social Studies and English. He was a work study student in the Tech Library and in the Cashier's office and he also worked as a radio announcer for Radio Station WMON in Montgomery. In the summers, in addition to working at WMON, he worked for Cabot Gas Corporation cutting grass and brush along gas lines and for the West Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles as a clerk in the license and title division. |  Dale Clarke Bailey as a work study student in the Tech Library |
 College graduate Dale Clarke Bailey with his parents |
Dale was active in several organizations while at Tech. He was a member of the Tech Student Government Association, History Club, Tech Players, West Virginia Student Education Association, and the Young Republicans Club. He also was involved with three fraternities: Beta Kappa Chi, Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, and Phi Alpha Theta history honorary fraternity. Dale received a Bachelor of Arts in June 1966. |
| Dale had done his student teaching at East Bank High School in the spring of 1966 and was hired to fill a full-time position in Social Studies there beginning in August 1966. He received his draft notice shortly after and reported to Fort Dix, New Jersey, for basic training. From Fort Dix, he went to Fort Rucker, Alabama, and then to Transportation Corps Officer Candidate School at Fort Eustis, Virginia. He graduated from OCS and was commissioned a second lieutenant in August 1967. |  Dale Bailey with his mother Susie and brother MSGT Gerald Bailey at Dale's commissioning ceremony at Fort Eustis, Virginia, August 1967 |
 Dale Clarke Bailey on leave at Cedar Grove, August 1967 |
Following OCS, Dale volunteered for pilot training and was sent to the helicopter school at Fort Wolters, near Mineral Wells, Texas. He was killed in his first solo flight on October 26, 1967. |
| He was buried in Montgomery Memorial Park in London after a funeral at the Presbyterian Church in Hugheston on October 29, 1967. At his death he was survived by his parents and three brothers. |  Dale Clarke Bailey obituary, Charleston Newspapers, October 28, 1967 |
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
