Missing information?
Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?
Submit- Full
name
KESTERKE, Duane Alvin - Date of
birth
20 April 1924 -
Age
20 - Place of
birth
Eau Claire, Berrien County, Michigan -
Hometown
Dowagiac, Berrien County, Michigan
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
O-700153 -
Rank
Second Lieutenant -
Function
Navigator -
Unit
710th Bombardment Squadron,
447th Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal
Death
-
Status
Finding of Death - Date of
death
20 May 1944 - Place of
death
Belgium
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes - Tablets of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
Theodore Kesterke (father)
Marjorie Kesterke (mother)
Darlene Kesterke (sister)
De Lynn Kesterke (sister)
Joan (Watson) Kesterke (wife)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-97176 -
Data
Nickname: Miss Bombshell
Type: B-17G
Destination: Liege, Belgium
MACR: 4939
More information
2nd Lt Duane A. Kesterke graduated from Union High School with the class of 1942 where he played football. He attended Western Michigan College of Education and also worked on his father's farm.He enlisted on 28 October 1942 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in December 1943.
He was sent to England on 20 March 1944. In the two months he had been on active duty, he had taken part in an exceptionally large number of missions.
Lt Kesterke is remembered with a memorial marker at Caldwell Cemetery in Eau Claire, Berrien County, Michigan.
Source of information: Terry Hirsch, WWIIMemorial.com, Fold3.com, MACR 4939, Ancestry.com, News-Palladium 10 June 1944, WWII Draft Card
Photo source: News-Palladium - 10 June 1944, www.findagrave.com - Sam Pennartz, Union High School 1942