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| 1st Lt. Marvin Leinweber, 405th Fighter Group, and his P-47 Thunderbolt. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=41894646 http://wing.chez-alice.fr/USAAF/405th_FG/Pilots_&_Nose_Arts_510th_FS.html |
Marvin Leinweber never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on September 6, 1917 in Texas. His parents August and Minnie were also born in Texas. His father worked as a farmer. Marvin had an older brother, an older sister, and three younger brothers. By 1940 Marvin had moved out and had completed one year of college, probably at Texas A&M while working as a bookkeeper.
He enlisted in the Army Air Forces and became a first lieutenant in the 510th Fighter Squadron, 405th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force that arrived in England in the spring of 1944. He was a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot. Prior to D-Day the 405th focused on destroying targets that would hurt the planned invasion. After the invasion it flew close support missions for Patton's 3rd Army.
Taking off from his airbase at Picauville, France, Lt. Leinweber's plane was downed over France on August 10, 1944. He walked away but was wounded and he became a prisoner of war. He died in a Paris hospital on August 24, 1944.
His grave is at Hondo Cemetery in Texas.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
To mark having over 100,000 visits to my project to honor the fallen of WW2 on their 100th birthdate, I created this video to share. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY. Now more than 200 fallen have been profiled with more than 200,000 visits. Is there interest in seeing a similar video highlighting those from the group of second 100?
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
A newspaper article stated that Marvin attended Draughon’s Business College. Also, he married Mary E Shuler in 1944, probably before his group went to England. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with one Silver Oak Leaf Cluster.
ReplyDeleteeyoung, this story is hosted in an old blog. Thanks for the added info. Would you like to see it added to the www.storiesbehindthestars.org project so anyone visiting his gravesite can scan his name and get a link to read the story? don@storiesbehindthestars.org
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