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| Lt. Donald Schwerin was a bombardier-navigator in B-24s in the 5th Bomb Group such as the one above. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=41243043&ref=acom https://www.pinterest.com/pin/571886852660484032/ |
Donald Charles Schwerin never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on November 14, 1917 in Washington. His parents were also both born in Washington. His father, a child of German immigrants, worked as a wheat farmer. Don had one younger brother and one younger sister. By 1940 Don had completed two years of college at Washington State and was working on the family farm.
He enlisted in the Army Air Forces on 1942. There were more volunteers than could be trained so Don was not called into active service until February 1943. He became a second lieutenant and bombardier-navigator in the 23rd Bombardment Squad, 5th Bombardment Group, 13th Air Force which was equipped with B-24 Liberators. Lt. Schwerin was sent to New Guinea in December 1944 to join the 23rd BS as a replacement. For the next four months Lt. Schwerin participated in bombing Japanese targets in the Philippines.
On April 2, 1945, Lt. Schwerin's plane took off for an observation mission over Negros Island in the Philippines. The plane went missing. Later it was discovered that all eleven men onboard were killed when the plane crashed into a mountain.
His grave is at Ritzville Memorial Cemetery in Washington.
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!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
Thank you!!! Don was my Uncle, my mother's oldest brother.
ReplyDeleteDo you want to add his story to www.storiesbehindthestars.org so anyone visiting his gravesite can scan his name and read his story? Email me at don@storiesbehindthestars.org to get the details.
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