Biography
Year at ISU: 1945
Ensign Tom C. Van Alyea '45, of Park Ridge, Ill., earned his wings in February 1945. He was among 18 Navy flyers killed in the crash of a transport plane in northeastern Oklahoma on Oct. 31, 1945. Alyea had been assigned to fly planes from the Midwest to bases in Florida and was returning from a mission when the crash took his life.