Harold Dwyer graduated from Hastings High School, Hastings, Nebraska in 1942. In August 1944 he received his wings and commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Corps at the Ft. Sumner Army Air Field in New Mexico.



Assigned to the 8th Air Force, 34th Bomb Group, 391st Squadron in England. Flew his first mission on 23 March 1945, as Co-Pilot (pilot, aircraft?), then several other combat missions and five Chowhound missions to drop food supplies to the Dutch population.



After the end of the war in Europe, Harold made non-combat missions to fly liberated French POWs from Linz, Austria to Paris. After World War II, Harold served in the United States Air Force Reserves obtaining the rank of Major and was honorably discharged on January 18, 1963.



Harold’s brother Stanley N. Dwyer, also a B-17 combat pilot in the 15th Air Force, has been missing in action since May 10, 1944. The book "Searching for Stanley – Unforgotten Hero of World War II" by Kay Hughes with contributions by Harold E. Dwyer tells of the family’s quest to understand Stanley’s fate. In 2014, brothers Harold E. Dwyer and Stanley N. Dwyer were inducted into the Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame.