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Personal info

Full name
THIES, Merle John
Date of birth
1 April 1916
Age
28
Place of birth
Alliance Township, Moody County, South Dakota
Hometown
Pipestone, Pipestone County, Minnesota

Military service

Service number
O-816377
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Co-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
D 32 1

Immediate family

Members
William H. Thies (father)
Dorothea E. (Bauer) Thies (mother)
Laurence W. Thies (brother)
Dwight W. Thies (brother)
Ardyce D. Thies (sister)
Pearl L. Thies (wife)
Merlin P. Thies (son)

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

Merle Thies graduated from Pipestone High School and worked on his father's farm

He enlisted at Camp Riley, Kansas, on 7 October 1942.

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.wwiimemorail.com, www.fold3.com, www.ancestry.com - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, www.findagrave.com - Paul Webber

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Paul Webber / Jim Zebora