|
|
| Recent Address: |
|
1929 Union Road, Cedar Falls, IA 50613 |
| |
| Email: |
|
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
|
| |
| Family Information: |
|
Parents: Glen and Marjorie; Siblings: Neysa, Joanne, James |
| |
| Hometown: |
|
Des Moines, IA |
| |
| Date Entered Service: |
|
February 4 1943 |
| |
| Service Number: |
|
37659567 |
| |
| Bomb Group: |
|
462nd |
| |
| Squadron: |
|
770th |
| |
| Location of Unit: |
|
WAAF, Victoria KS 10/19/43 |
| |
| Missions Flown: |
|
Officially credited with 22, but many more actual, due to full credit not given for missions from India. |
| |
| Hump Missions Flown: |
|
Many--No count available. Bailed out over Burma on one trip when the plane ran out of gas. |
| |
| Targets: |
|
Yawata, Nagasaki, Anshan, Okayama, Omura (2), Tokyo, Kobe |
| |
| Awards/Decorations: |
|
Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Good Conduct Medal, Distinguished Unit Badge with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, WWII Victory Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 1 Silver Star for the India-Burma Campaign, China Offensive Campaign, Air Offensive Japan, Western Pacific Campaign, China Defensive, American Theater Service Medal, POW medal. |
| |
| Service Schools Attended: |
|
Central Fire Control Sep 1943; CFSC Spec. Gunner |
| |
| Military Specialty(ies): |
|
MOS 960-Central Fire Control |
| |
| Rank Upon Discharge: |
|
Technical Sergeant |
| |
| Crew Type: |
|
Flight crew |
| |
| Airplane Serial No.& Name: |
|
42-6211 (unnamed), 42-63454 Thunder Bird, 44-69965 (unnamed), 42-63362 Hull's Angel |
| |
| Were you a POW? |
|
Yes |
| If so, where? |
|
I was not kept at an official prisoner of war camp |
| |
| Were you interned? |
|
Yes |
| If so, where? |
|
Kempei Tai Hdqtrs Bldg., Osaka |
| |
| Date killed in action: |
|
Killed in action - August 15 1945 |
| |
|
|
|
| |
| Post-WWII Military Service: |
|
|
| |
| Post-WWII Civilian Occupation(s): |
| |
| |
| Thoughts on the 58th Bomb Wing: |
|
|
| |
| Comments: |
| David and his crew were shot down in a fire raid on Kobe, Japan, June 5, 1945. He and four others were captured and held by the military police (Kempei Tai) in the basement of their headquarters building at Osaka, Japan. On August 5 or 6 he (and apparently the other enlisted men) was executed at the nearby firing range on the grounds of Osaka Castle. The one officer who had been captured was executed on August 15. Their case was the basis for one of the charges filed at the Tokyo war crimes trials in 1948. The other captured crew members were: Lt. Benton Van Horn, Arthur Weinbauer, John Zinn, and Hershell Barrett. Those crew members who were killed on June 5 and not captured were Capt. Carl (Shorty) Hull, Cletus Warren Moser, Tom Drew, James Clemmons, Charley Blackburn and Oliver Stewart. |
|
