Portraits of five Princeton soldiers were dedicated on Veterans Day in the Hall of Heroes at the Russell A. Steindam Courthouse in McKinney.

It was the 11th ceremony organized by the North Texas Fallen Warrior Portrait Project, bringing the number of portraits to 105. The names are selected from those on the Wall of Honor at the Collin County Veterans Memorial Park in McKinney.

The latest honorees are 2nd Lt. Louis F. Bass, 26, of the 577th Squadron of the 392nd Bomb Group, U.S. Eighth Army Air Force. His bomb group took off from Wendling Airfield, Norfolk, England, on April 21, 1944. They encountered severe icing conditions at altitude and more than 40 aircraft were forced to abandon the mission and return to base. His B-24 nicknamed “Kentucky Girl” suffered a catastrophic condition that resulted in an explosion. Bass was unable to bail out and is one of the eight crewmen from “Kentucky Girl” memorialized at the crash site near Norwich, England. He is buried in Altoga Cemetery.

First Lt. Ray W. Henslee, 23, was with the 439th Bomb Squadron of the 319th Bomb Group of the U.S. 12th Army Air Force. He was a navigator on a B-26 Marauder who recently arrived in England. On Nov. 12, 1942, his B-26 “Boogie Woogie,” was shot down by a German ME-109 near Cherbourg, France, as his bomb group was transitioning to Algeria to participate in Operation Torch. A memorial was erected to honor Henslee and his crewmen in Les Pieuz, France. He is buried in the Cambridge American Cemetery in Cambridge, England.

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