Valentin Tulla

Graduating Class
1943

Major
Civil Engineering

Activities at Clemson
Newman Club

Hometown
Santurce, Puerto Rico

Family
Wife: Betty Goodman of Clemson, SC

Service & Rank
Army Air Force, First Lieutenant

Unit
501 Bomb Squadron, 21 Bomb Group

Date of Birth
Sep 12, 1918

Date of Death
Mar 12, 1945

Details of Death
Non-Battle Death - Crashed at AAF Alexandria, Louisiana on a training flight.

Burial Details
He was originally buried in Old Stone Church in Clemson but was later reinterred in the Puerto Rico Memorial, Vault 3-B, 4225 Isla Verde Avenue, Carolina, PR

Barrow Stone Location
SW

Personal Remembrances

The following extract and series of photos was gathered from Franscisco Silva-Tulla, Lt Tulla's nephew.

Lt. Valentín Tulla was my uncle, my mother’s brother. My mother was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania at the time of Lt. Tulla’s death and she went to South Carolina to represent the family during his funeral. His parents were in Puerto Rico and with the difficult travel conditions during the war years, they were unable to attend. Although he died before I was born, his memory was always around us since the family frequently mentioned him. I have, or have access to, whatever information exists about him from my mother’s family side. Our family maintained contact with his widow, Betty Goodman, for many years after his death. I understand she remarried. [Note: In April 1948 Betty Goodman Tulla married Alexander C. Page, the brother of Lewis A. Page, another honoree on the Clemson Scroll of Honor.] Several years before my mother’s death in 2 February 2004, my parents visited Betty during one of their annual car trips between residences in Florida and Connecticut. In our Lexington, MA home I have in a display case the U.S. flag used to drape his casket, along with one of his calling cards.

Francisco Silva-Tulla, Sc.D., P.E.

Other:

First Lt. Valentin Tulla, pilot in the Army Air Corps, and husband of the former Miss Betty Goodman of Clemson, was killed last Saturday at Alexandria, LA, in a plane crash which claimed the lives of ten persons. Twenty-six years old, he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Antonio Tulla, of Puerto Rico.

Majoring in civil engineering, Lt. Tulla left Clemson in 1942 from the Junior class. He was a pilot on a heavy bomber and his promotion to the rank of first lieutenant came through on Sunday, the day following his death.

At the time this was written, his body was expected to arrive on Thursday night under military escort. Plans were underway for a military funeral, interment to be at the Old Stone Church cemetery. Miss Haydee Tulla, sister of Lt. Tulla who is doing graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, attended the funeral. [Note: 2Lt Tulla's body was later interred in the Puerto Rico Memorial, Carolina, PR.]

Extracted from The Tiger the Clemson student newspaper.

Note: 1Lt Tulla is listed on the Clemson Scroll of Honor as a member of the Class of '44. However, I believe was in the Class of '43. The 1942 Taps shows him as a Junior and the 1941 Taps shows him as a Sophomore. J. David Lyle