Memorial

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2nd Lt William D. Markle was a lineman ath the Bell Telephone Company in McKeesport.

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 26 August 1942.

Statement of a crew member:
"I heard from a crew member in another aircraft on the mission, that the first man to bail out of the front escape hatch fell out of his chute. This was apparently seen by several crews on the mission and reported to the interrogaters at the home station. I was told this several months after the mission and this was the first information I had received of any nature concerning the fate of Lt. Markle."
The aircraft was hit by flak and on fire, al crew members bailed out, eight were taken prisoner, one was killed. The plane was laast sighted 15 miles northeast of Berlin.

Lt Markle had completed 24 missions.

According to German records, Lt Markle was initially buried at the POW Cemetery of Döbertiz.

In June 1951 an investigation was conducted to find several American deceased at the grounds where the POW Cemetery of Döbertiz was situated. The former caretaker, however, stated that the Americans exhumed their remains in 1947, in 1948 the French and in 1949 the Italians, Germans and Russians completely exhumed the cemetery. This was done systematically, field by field, row by row. In late 1949 the former cemetery site was returned to its German owner. In 1951 it was planted with potatoes. The conclusion of the investigation was that when the cemetery finally was disinterred all remains left, were evacuated to Russian or German Honor cemeteries and buried in unmarked graves.