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Personal info

Full name
MARX, Donald Larue
Date of birth
23 March 1915
Age
27
Place of birth
Illinois
Hometown
Wabash County, Illinois

Military service

Service number
36059272
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Tail Gunner
Unit
324th Bombardment Squadron,
91st Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
4 March 1943
Place of death
Wadden Sea, south of Texel Island, The Netherlands
North Sea

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
J 3 5

Immediate family

Members
Herbert A. Marx (father)
Arzula M. (Wise) Marx (mother)
Dorothy P. Marx (sister)
Calvin A. Marx (brother)
Betty Marx (sister)
Freda A. (Wade) Marx (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-5370
Data
Type: B-17F
Destination: Hamm, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the marshalling yard
MACR: 16102

More information

S/Sgt Donald L. Marx was well known for his career as a local amateur boxer during the 1930s. Before joining the military he worked as an usher for the American Theater and was also a milk delivery man for Midwest Dairy.

He enlisted in East St. Louis, Illinois on 10 June 1942. After basic training he was sent to aerial gunnery school and then assigned as a crew member on a B-17. He deployed to England as part of a replacement crew, arriving there in late 1942.
The airplane was shot down by Hptm Lutje of IV/NJG1. Nine crew members were killed, one survived and was taken prisoner.

S/Sgt Marx washed was buried on 12 April 1943 in the general Cemetery of Huisduinen after he washed ashore a couple days earlier near pole 19.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Silvano Theunissen