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Personal info

Full name
AHLWARDT, Donald Lewis
Date of birth
4 May 1923
Age
20
Place of birth
Iowa
Hometown
Danbury, Woodbury County, Iowa

Military service

Service number
O-537244
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Pilot
Unit
331st Bombardment Squadron,
94th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
3 March 1944
Place of death
Itzehoe, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Lewis A. Ahlwardt Sr. (father)
Maggie B. (Clausen) Ahlwardt (mother)
Gladys Ahlwardt (sister)
Luella Ahlwardt (sister)
Evalyn Ahlwardt (sister)
Lewis A. Ahlwardt Jr. (brother)
Betty L. Ahlwardt (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-38075
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Berlin
Mission: Bombing of the industrial areas
MACR: 2794

More information

1st Lt Donald L. Ahlwardt was a clerk. He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States at Fort Des Moines, Iowa on 31 December 1941.

On their way to the target, the formation crossed another formation that was returning without bombing theit target, due to bad weather. The airplane collided head on with plane 42-31112, killing the entire crew of both planes.

There is a contradiction about the exact place where the plane crashed. According to certain documents, it crashed in Itzehoe, but other documents mention that the body of Thomas Robey washed ashore in Busum on 5 May 1944. This can mean that the airplane crashed in the North Sea.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, Carla Mans, www.wwiimemorial.com , www.archives.gov, Missing Aircrew Report 2794

Photo source: Donald S. Ahlwardt (cousin), Dennis and Gerda Hermsen, http://www.armyairforces.com - lucky partners, www.americanairmuseum.com, Greg Lampman, Arie-Jan van Hees, Pilot Class Book 43-D, Lubbock, Texas