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| Lt. Col. Louis Dolan was the deputy commander of the 390th Bombardment Group at the age of 24. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27468256/george-marsh-broomfield http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/151712 |
Louis William "Lucky" Dolan never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on December 27, 1919 in Denver, Colorado. His parents Francis and Dorothy were also both born in Colorado. His father worked as a traveling salesman and later as a wholesale groceries salesman. Louis had one younger sister. By 1939 Louis was attending the University of Denver. He married Helen Beacham in February 1942 while he was living in Arizona.
He enlisted in the army in June 1941. He eventually reached the rank of lieutenant colonel in the 570th Bombardment Squadron, 390th Bombardment Group. By November 1944 he was the deputy commander of the 390th BG. Lt. Col. Dolan is the highest ranking officer I have profiled in this project that currently exceeds 1,100 profiles.
The target for November 30, 1944 was Merseburg, Germany to hit the synthetic fuel complex. It was an unpopular target for the crews -- deep in Germany and heavily protected. Lt. Col. Dolan was the co-pilot in B-17 44-8080 nicknamed The Saint. There were 540 bombers assigned to attack Merseburg. Lt. Col. Dolan was flying wing lead.
While approaching the target, the 390th BG ran into heavy flak. The Saint was hit, lost control, rose, rolled upside down and settled on top of its wingman bomber. There was a midair explosion. All of the Dolan crew were killed as well as six from the other bomber.
For an excellent account of this mission, go here.
His grave is at Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. His widow remarried and died in 1990.
Last year on this date I profiled Byron Belt, 8th Infantry Division and his brother Billy. You can read about the Belt brothers here.
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.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56294590/robert-leroy-sprout
ReplyDeleteHere is the page on my dad Robert Leroy Sprout born October 30, 1923
ReplyDeletehttps://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=32059