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Personal info

Full name
BEADLE, Leonard William Jr "Bill"
Date of birth
16 February 1922
Age
22
Place of birth
Millville, Grant County, Wisconsin
Hometown
Beloit, Rock County, Wisconsin

Military service

Service number
O-826852
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
412th Bombardment Squadron,
95th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
16 December 1944
Place of death
North Sea, off the coast of Zoutelande, the Netherlands

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg
Plot Row Grave
H 1 72

Immediate family

Members
Leonard W. Beadle Sr. (father)
Ada M. (Horsfall) Beadle (mother)
Anne L. Beadle (sister)
Eizabeth Beadle (sister)
Mary V. Beadle (sister)
Florence D. (Isely) Beadley (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-97232
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Government Property
Destination: Stuttgart, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the marshalling yards
MACR: 11259

More information

2nd Lt Leonard W. Beadle Jr. graduated from Beloit High School in 1939 and attended the University of Wisconsin. He was employed at the Dougan Guernsey Farm Dairy before he joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Madison Wisconsin on 12 August 1942.

Capt David E. Olsson:
B-17G 42-97232 piloted by 1st Lt Coffman was not reported as to time and place of loss. On the route back from the target clouds up to 23000 feet forced a turn northward. Because the aircraft of the group were low on oxygen and gas they broke off individually to return to base. This aircraft broke off as did the others and has not been heard of since. There was no contact made by radio at any time with this aircraft.

All nine crew members lost their lives in the crash. The aircraft's fate was definitively confirmed when the body of the co-pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Leonard W. Beadle, washed ashore on the beach of Zoutelande on 14 May 1945.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / WWII Draft Cards Young Men / Sunderland Family Tree, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.findagrave.com – MAJ Jimmy Cotton, www.google.com 

Photo source: www.findagrave.com – LuxAmCem / Dan Graves, www.ancestry.com – U.S. School Yearbooks