Denver Truelove was born on April 10, 1919, in Clermont, Georgia. He enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Corps for Bombardier and Navigator training on May 13, 1940, and was commissioned a 2d Lt in April 1941. Lt Truelove's first assignment was as a B-25 Mitchell bombardier with the 95th Bomb Squadron of the 17th Bomb Group at Pendleton Field, Oregon, from April 1941 until he was selected for the Doolittle Mission in February 1942. He was the bombardier on the 5th B-25 to take off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) on April 18, 1942, and after bombing targets in Tokyo the crew bailed out over China when their aircraft ran out of fuel. After returning to the United States, he joined the 428th Bomb Squadron of the 310th Bomb Group as a B-25 bombardier, and deployed with the unit to RAF Hardwick, England, in September 1942. Capt Truelove then served in combat as a B-25 bombardier with the 428th Bomb Squadron in North Africa from November 1942 until he was killed in action off the coast of Sicily on April 5, 1943. His remains have never been returned to the United States.

His Distinguished Flying Cross Citation reads:

For extraordinary achievement while participating in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland on April 18, 1942. Lieutenant Truelove volunteered for this mission knowing full well that the chances of survival were extremely remote, and executed his part in it with great skill and daring. This achievement reflects high credit on Lieutenant Truelove and the military service.