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Personal info

Full name
GORDONI, Don Maurice
Date of birth
8 June 1918
Age
25
Place of birth
Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware
Hometown
Cook County, Illinois

Military service

Service number
12012562
Rank
Technical Sergeant
Function
Radio Operator
Unit
337th Bombardment Squadron,
96th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Missing in Action
Date of death
28 July 1943
Place of death
North Sea

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Nathaniel Goldstein (father)
Lillian Gordoni (mother)
Gordon M. Gordoni (brother)
Earle S. Goldstein (brother)
Charles K. Gordoni (brother)
Adele (Peacock) Gordoni (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-30141
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Liberty Belle
Destination: Oschersleben, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the Fw190 plant
MACR: 140

More information

T/Sgt Don Gordoni enlisted in Wilmington, Delaware on 14 November 1941, together with his brother Charles under the name of their mother, Lillian Gordoni. He began working for the radio in Chicago as an announcer when he was 14 years old.

The plane was last seen over the North Sea. They had suffered continuous fighter attacks which set the plane on fire. Six crew members bailed out at about 5000 feet over the North Sea as six parachutes were seen in the air. Only the bombardier, Lawrence Robert Wolford survived. In his post war statements, together with apparently eye witness statements from other planes in the formation, it is believed that the regular co-pilot (who was flying in the tail gunner position) was killed in the fighter attacks. Also the Radio Operator was believed to have been killed prior to the bailout. There is no mention or speculation in the MACR of exactly what might have happened to Postlewait.

Of the six who bailed out, three have been identified as Wolford, the bombardier (and only survivor), the navigator Humke and the assistant navigator (listed as an observer) Howell. Howell's body washed ashore near the German/Danish border in August.
Son of Sgt Alvin Neff;
Don had been the radio voice of Jack Armstrong (the All American Boy), but lost the job when his voice changed. But he became a great singer. Assigned to my father's unit, my dad and Don became best friends. He would sing to the men to help them through the war. On the famous run to the Oslen assembly plant, Don was flying in the Liberty Bell. Unfortunately, the Liberty Bell was hit. The crew tried to parachute to safety but pulled their rip cords too quickly and their parachutes caught on fire. My father was in the Rum Boogie and witnessed this as it happened to Don and the rest of the Liberty Bell crew. My father never talked of this incident to anyone in our family, and we were only recently made aware of it when we obtained a copy of Snetterton's Falcons where the run is described in some detail. I think this was just too painful a memory for him to ever bring up.

His brother Charles is buried at Ardennes American War Cemetery.

A third brother, T/Sgt Earle Stanford Goldstein was with the Army Air Forces in England.

Source of information: Kristof De Geyter, Andi Hunting, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com, http://ekmark.wix.com/rumboogie#!11/cxyf - Neff's daughter Vicki Ekmark / Snetterton's Falcons, www.newspapers.com - The News Journal / The Morning News

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.newspapers.com - The News Journal