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Personal info

Full name
SHEAFFER, Harold Newton
Date of birth
1921
Age
unknown
Place of birth
Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Hometown
Newark, New Castle County, Delaware

Military service

Service number
O-739227
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Navigator
Unit
527th Bombardment Squadron,
379th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
22 February 1944
Place of death
Near Göttingen, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
D 2 7

Immediate family

Members
Harold C. Sheaffer (father)
Esther E. (Kurtz) Sheaffer (mother)
Doris E. Sheaffer (sister)
Robert P. Sheaffer (brother)
Ella J. Sheaffer (sister)
Thomas Sheaffer (brother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-29829
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Sons O'Satan
Destination: Göttingen, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the marshalling yard
MACR: 2870

More information

Harold N. Sheaffer graduated from Newark High School in 1939. He attended the University of Delaware and then attended Goldey College. He was an accountant for the Continental Diamond Fibre Company of Newark.

He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in Wilmington, Delaware on 15 June 1942 and was sent overseas in October 1943.

He had flown 17 operational missions.

The airplane was attacked by enemy fighter aircraft and was on fire at No 2 and 3 engines and in the bomb bay.

Five crew members were taken prisoner, five men were killed.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, Carla Mans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.fold3.com, www.findagrave.com, www.ancestry.com - 1940 Census, http://delaware.contentdm.oclc.org, www.newspapers.com - The News Journal

Photo source: Jac Engels, http://delaware.contentdm.oclc.org, www.newspapers.com - The News Journal, www.findagrave.com - Al Skiff