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Personal info

Full name
VAN DYKE, Joseph Semmes
Date of birth
7 February 1921
Age
23
Place of birth
Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan
Hometown
Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan

Military service

Service number
O-808614
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Pilot
Unit
836th Bombardment Squadron,
487th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
23 June 1944
Place of death
Rue de Paloke
Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
B 40 11

Immediate family

Members
Frank G. Van Dyke (father)
Katherine B. (Semmes) Van Dyke (mother)
George Van Dyke (brother)
Francis Van Dyke (brother)

Plane data

Serial number
41-28822
Data
Type: B-24H
Nickname: Bashful Marion
Destination: Juvincourt, France
Mission: Bombing of the airfield
MACR: 6263

More information

Joseph S. Van Dyke worked as an office clerk.

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Detroit, Michigan on 28 April 1942. He completed Army Air Forces pilot training in Class 43-G, and received his wings and commission as a Second Lieutenant on 28 July 1943.

According to eye witness reports from crew members of other airplanes in the group, this B-24 was hit by flak southwest of Brussels and disintegrated in the air. Not one of the nine crew members had the chance to bail out and packed parachutes and other flying equipment were seen to fall out of the plane as it exploded. It fell in peaces near a hospice in Rue du Paloke, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean.

He was initially buried at the cemetery of Evere, Belgium.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com, www.findagrave.com - Paul Webber, www.ancestry.com - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Dave Steigerwald, www.findagrave.com - Paul Webber / Jim Zebora