Missing information?

Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?

Submit

Personal info

Full name
LEMONS, Donald H
Date of birth
14 November 1919
Age
25
Place of birth
El Dorado, Butler County, Kansas
Hometown
Norman, Cleveland County, Oklahoma

Military service

Service number
38406566
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Toggler
Unit
401st Bombardment Squadron,
91st Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
8 April 1945
Place of death
Near Stendahl, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
D 36 5

Immediate family

Members
Thomas H. Lemons (father)
Rose N. (Brothers) Lemons (mother)
Gordon L. Lemons (brother)
Harvey Lemons (brother)
Ruby A. Lemons (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-102504
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Times-A-Wastin'
Destination: Stendahl, Germany
Mission: Bombardment of the marshalling yard
MACR: 14295

More information

Donald Lemons enlisted on Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on 23 June 1943.

Statement of T/Sgt William J. Carlson, a crew member of another airplane in the group: "I first observed aircraft 42-102504 to be in trouble at about 30 seconds to one minute after bombs away. I saw the no. 2 engine smoking badly and there appeared to be flames between the no. 2 engine and the fuselage. The right wing and engines appeared to be untouched. The aircraft then nosed upward, stood on the right wing tip, and side slipped downward in a steep dive. After it had fallen for a couple of hundred feet I saw one man leave the aircraft and his parachute opened immediately. The aircraft continued downward on a steep circling dive to the right."

Seven crew members were killed, two survived and were taken prisoner.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch,www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com MACR, www.ancestry.com Family Tree / U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.findagrave.com - Gary Hall