George Alan May
Agency patch
Major

George Alan May

Accident
End of Watch September 17, 1971
Age 36
Tour of Duty 2 yrs 3 mo
Gender Male

Incident

Major George A. May was killed when his plane crashed while transporting an escaped inmate from Oregon to Texas.

Major May and his co-pilot, Major Robert A. Arrington, flew a Texas Department of Corrections airplane to Oregon to pick up an inmate who escaped from a Texas prison on March 31, 1970 and was captured in Oregon. The officers stopped in Pueblo, Colorado, back to Huntsville, Texas. On the morning of September 17, 1971, the TDC plane left the airport and crashed around 9:04 a.m., 15-25 miles southwest of Fowler in Pueblo County, Colorado. All three men were killed. The airplane flew into a late summer storm that dropped the earliest snowfall in the Pueblo area since record-keeping in 1888. Search planes were delayed because of low visibility.

Major May served with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division for over two years.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife.

In Our Keeping

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August 2, 2026
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August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Major May gave the Texas Department of Criminal Justice 2 years.
Thank you for your service to the Huntsville community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Major May.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Type Corrections
Location Huntsville, Walker County, TX
Platform Identity tdcjcidcorr.walker.tx.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch September 17, 1971
Tour of Duty 2 yrs 3 mo
Age 36
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

The Sacrifice · Accident

George is one of 8,276 officers lost to accidents in the United States, 30% of the 27,551 remembered there.

34,102 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

  1. See the roll
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Compare against
I

Time

In 1971, 79 officers in the United States were lost to accidents, the 29th heaviest of 174 years on record. The heaviest was 1929, with 118.

Every year on record · United States
II

Who

George was 36. Of the 7,718 lost to accidents in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 29 and 46; the middle age was 36. George had served 2.2 years; the middle length of service was 6 years.

Age at death
Where he stood among them
Age by years of service
III

When

September holds 9.2% of these deaths in the United States; August holds the most, 9.4%. Fridays: 15.1%.

By month
By day of the week
IV

How

Accident deaths account for 30% of all 27,551 deaths in the United States, the 2nd most common cause.

Every cause
Weapons recorded
V

His people

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division has at least 120 officers remembered here, George among them.

Across the years

Major George Alan May

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division · End of Watch September 17, 1971

Where the Name Is Cut

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial · Panel 23-W

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