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Personal info

Full name
VEVLE, Lloyd Oliver
Date of birth
9 December 1922
Age
21
Place of birth
Fort Dodge, Webster County, Iowa
Hometown
Webster County, Iowa

Military service

Service number
O-768760
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
545th Bombardment Squadron,
384th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
28 September 1944
Place of death
Erxleben, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
C 37 20

Immediate family

Members
Oliver Velve (father)
Elizabeth M. Vevle (mother)
Rudolph Vevle (brother)
Floyd M. Vevle (twin brother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-31222
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Lazy Daisy
Destination: Magdeburg, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the oil refinery
MACR: 9366

More information

Lloyd Vevle joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri on 31 January 1943.

Lt Wallace Storey, the pilot of another airplane in the same group, remembered what happened: "Flak was extremely heavy that day, and the Wing had been somewhat disrupted by the heavy opposition. We found ourselves on a crossing course with another Group and just after 'bombs away', the lead ship made a sharp descending right turn. Glancing to my right, I saw “Lazy Daisy” was sliding toward me. I pulled back on the control column to climb out of her path while keeping my eye on the # 2 ship of the lead element, Lt Buslee in #378 (43-37822), on whose wing our element was flying. I yelled for Gross to watch out for him to come out on the other side, and, sure enough, he slid under us and right into Buslee in the lead element. I watched the two planes as they collided. It cut #378 in half, and the wings on #222 folded up, and both planes fell in a fireball.”

The airplane collided with airplane #43-37822 over the target. Both airplanes went down in fire and out of control. Six crew members were killed, three survived and were taken prisoner.

This was his 19th mission.

His twin brother Floyd is remembered at the Tablets of the Missing at the American Military Cemetery and Memorial of Henri-Chapelle.

Both brothers are remembered with an inscription on the grave of their parents at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Eagle Grove, Iowa.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, wwiimemorial.com, NARA, MACR, 384thbombgroup.com, www.ancestry.com - 1930 Census / Iowa Births and Christenings Index

Photo source: www.findagrave.com, www.ancestry.com - Port Washington High School Yearbook 1940, http://thearrowheadclub.com - Cindy Farrar Bryan