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Personal info

Full name
EDGERTON, Henry Yates Jr
Date of birth
24 June 1924
Age
20
Place of birth
North Carolina
Hometown
Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Military service

Service number
O-2061656
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
714th Bombardment Squadron,
448th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
25 March 1945
Place of death
Langenhorst, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
H 6 13

Immediate family

Members
Henry Y. Edgerton (father)
Minnie L Edgerton (mother)
Jack Edgerton (brother)

Plane data

Serial number
44-40099
Data
Type: B-24J
Destination: Hitzacker, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the oil depots
MACR: 13547

More information

2nd Lt Edgerton graduated from Central High School with the class of 1942 and attended North Carolina State College.

In a statement on 19 September 1945, a surviving crew member, 2nd Lt Gottlieb, declared that the airplane was attacked by German jet-propelled fighters over Dömitz. At the time he bailed out of the burning bomber, the interphone had been shot out of commission, and no bail-out order could have been heard anywhere on the plane had one been given. The plane exploded almost immediately after he left it.

Seven crew members survived and were taken prisoner. Two were killed.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Gold Star Veterans, www.cmstory.org

Photo source: www.findagrave.com, News Print - 19 June 1945, Peter Schouteten