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Personal info

Full name
ARMITAGE, Edward Dennis
Date of birth
14 April 1921
Age
23
Place of birth
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Hometown
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

Military service

Service number
33324018
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Radio Operator
Unit
43rd Squadron,
315th Troop Carrier Group
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
24 March 1945
Place of death
Wesel, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
B 32 25

Immediate family

Members
Edward J. Armitage (father)
Josephine A. Armitage (mother)

Plane data

Serial number
43-15251
Data
Type: C-47A
Nickname: Yardbird II
Destination: Drop Zone A, Rees, Germany
Mission: Paratrooper drop
MACR: 13387

More information

Edward Armitage was a shipping clerk.

He enlisted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 23 July 1942.

The airplane was shot down over the drop zone. All four crew members were killed. It also carried seventeen passengers, all members of the British 6th Airborne Division. They all managed to jump before the airplane was hit.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Veteran Compensation Application File / Headstone and Interment Record

Photo source: Peter Schouteten