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Personal info

Full name
WADLEY, Donald Leroy
Date of birth
20 January 1920
Age
23
Place of birth
Kearney, Buffalo County, Nebraska
Hometown
San José, Santa Clara County, California

Military service

Service number
O-735476
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Pilot
Unit
368th Bombardment Squadron,
306th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Missing in Action
Date of death
3 November 1943
Place of death
North Sea, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Silas A. Wadley (father)
Charlotte P. (McKean) Wadley (mother)
Pauline V. Wadley (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-3533
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the U-boat yards
MACR: 1159

More information

1st Lt Donald L. Wadley attended college and was as a salesman at J C Pennys Company.

He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States at Hammer Field, Fresno, California.

The airplane collided in mid-air with B-17 #42-30776. All crew members of both planes, twenty men in total were killed.

Source of information: Jac Engels, Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, Enlistment record / Nara, ABMC, Find a Grave, MACR 1159 / Fold 3, US Census 1930 / Fold3, 306th BG Echoes, www.ancestry.com - Family Trees, WWII Draft Card

Photo source: Fred Munckhof / Find a Grave, Mary Carl