"Tillie's" great ambition was to become a pilot.

Attilio Joseph Dogliotti, the son of Bartolomeo and Maria Dogliotti, was born on November 25, 1920, in Davenport, California, and spent most of his life between Santa Cruz, Castroville and Carmel, California. In 1935 he entered Santa Cruz High School where he took a general and varied course program. The high school yearbooks reveal that Dogliotti was active in athletics and participated in several sports. He graduated with the class of 1939 and prior to the war, worked for the Coast Drum Box Company and the Davenport Portland Cement Company.

On April 22, 1942, Dogliotti enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an Air Cadet. His initial training occurred at Santa Ana, California, followed by flight schools at Blythe, Lemoore and Stockton, California. On January 4, 1943, Tillie received his gold bars and silver wings as a second lieutenant and pilot.

Following his commissioning, Lt. Dogliotti was sent to Tucson, Arizona, and assigned to a B-24 Liberator bomber training school. At its conclusion he flew to Pocatello, Idaho, and became a member of a ten man B-24 crew in the 538 Bomb Squadron of the 382 Bomb Group. After other crews were assembled, they flew to Gibbs Field in El Paso, Texas, to pick up six regular combat duty B-24 Liberators. On their return trip to Idaho on May 8, 1943, they encountered a storm in New Mexico where Dogliotti's plane lost a tail and crashed. "Tillie," who was not flying the aircraft at the time of the crash, and three other crew
members died instantly. Of the six B-24 Liberators that had left El Paso, four made it to Pocatello safely.

The remains of Second Lieutenant Attilio Joseph Dogliotti were returned to Santa Cruz where a funeral mass was held at Holy Cross Church on May 16, 1943. His remains were buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery.

(SCHSC, Pg. 9; SCSn May 10, 1943 1:1, May 17, 1943)