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Personal info

Full name
YAW, Myron Lee
Date of birth
4 October 1924
Age
20
Place of birth
Athens County, Ohio
Hometown
Athens, Athens County, Ohio

Military service

Service number
35752576
Rank
Sergeant
Function
Ball Turret Gunner
Unit
828th Bombardment Squadron,
485th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Missing in Action
Date of death
26 December 1944
Place of death
Blechhammer, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Tablets of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Otto V. Yaw (father)
Norma (Wilson) Yaw (mother)
Earl W. Yaw (brother)
Naomi M. Yaw (sister)
John M. Yaw (brother)
Chloe E. Yaw (sister)
Robert F. Yaw (brother)
Joann Yaw (sister)
Evelyn O. Yaw (sister)
Ray O. Yaw (brother)
Betty J. Yaw (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-50486
Data
Type: B-24J
Nickname: Butch
Destination: Blechhammer, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the Blechhammer South synthetic oil refinery
MACR: 10924

More information

Sgt Myron L. Yaw was attending Ohio University when he enlisted in Clarksburg, West Virginia on 7 April 1943.

Approximately one minute after bombs away, which was at 1230 hours, flak made a direct hit on this airplane just aft of the bomb bay by the ball turret. The aircraft then broke in half and started to spin to earth.

Blechhammer was the name of an area in Upper Silesia, containing chemical plants, prisoner of war camps, and a forced labor subcamp of Auschwitz. It is now a city in Poland with the name Kedzierzyn-Kozle.

His brother John served with the 463rd Bomber Group and was killed during the raid on the Ploiesti oil fields (Operation Tidal Wave). He is buried in a common grave with four other members of his crew at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Both brothers are remembered at the Maplewood Cemetery in Glouster, Ohio.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, www.485thbg.org, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013, The Ohio Alumnus - Nov 1944 (Ohio University)

Photo source: Jac Engels, 485thbg.org, www.findagrave.com - Jim, Athens School Yearbook 1940