Capt. Wayne T. Mann, from Allen, Texas, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in mid-1941 (before the US entered World War II). He  transferred back to the US Army Air Corps in early 1942 (after Pearl Harbor). He served as an instructor Pilot in Dyersburg, Tennessee in B-17s. Transferred to Luke, Arizona, as a B-24 Instructor. He was an original member of 20th Air Force, 679th squadron of the 444th Bomb Group, based in Great Bend, Kansas where he was an Instructor Pilot for the B-29. During WWII he flew out of India and Okinawa. Bailed out over Hump (the Himalayas between India and China). Some of the planes he flew with their serial numbers: 42-6277 Shanghai Lil; 42-24723 Shanghai Lil Rides Again; 42-63378 Fubar.
 Two of his brothers also served in the Air Corps. Johnnie L. Mann, 1943-1946, served with the 8th Air Force as ball turret gunner. Wayne’s older brother, Lt. Rudd V. Mann 1938-1942, was killed in the crash of an Air Force plane (Rudd is also listed on the McKinney Veterans Memorial).

Captain Mann, a member of the Air Force Reserve, was killed in a plane crash in New Mexico, 30 November, 1951. He is buried next to his brother, Rudd, in the Allen Cemetery.