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Personal info

Full name
LAUER, Wilbur C
Date of birth
16 December 1923
Age
20
Place of birth
Pennsylvania
Hometown
Clarion County, Pennsylvania

Military service

Service number
16168836
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Radio Operator/Gunner
Unit
612th Bombardment Squadron,
401st Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
7 May 1944
Place of death
Hohnboestel/Langligen, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
D 19 10

Immediate family

Members
Otto F. Lauer (father)
Beatrice M. (Judy) Lauer (mother)
Jane H. Lauer (sister)
Lois A. Lauer (sister)
Ronald J. Lauer (brother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-39943
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Lassie Come Home
Destination: Berlin, Germany
MACR: 4587

More information

S/Sgt Wilbur C. Lauer worked in a machine shop before he volunteered for the US Army in Chicago, Illinois on 3 December 1942.

Intense flak over the target resulted in battle damage to two-thirds of 1st Air Division bombers. The 401st lost one aircraft and crew, that piloted by Lt. Browning O. Grimmet (42-39943), which was hit by flak.

Source of information: Michel Beckers, Terry Hirsch, www.ancestry.com - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil / Gatesman Family Tree, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record / World War II Prisoners of War Data File

Photo source: Jac Engels, Andy Swinnen