 |
| Staff Sergeant Mathias Donart was a gunner on the B-17 #41-2443 in Hawaii. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71228524/mathias-e-donart https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/usa/aircrafts-2-3/b-17b/b-17e-41-2443/ |
Mathias E. Donart never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Announcement: In just a few days we will be starting a project that will result in the stories of all 400,000 plus of the World War 2 fallen at one online location. There will be an accompanying smart phone app to allow users visiting any war memorial to scan the fallen serviceman's name and be linked to his story. Watch this blog or join the WW2 Fallen 100 Facebook page to learn of upcoming details.
Mathias was born on February 8, 1920 in Idaho. His parents William and Bluette were born in Minnesota and Switzerland, respectively. His paternal grandparents were from Germany. His father worked as a farmer. Mathias had two older sisters and one older brother. He completed three years of high school.
Mathias volunteered for the Army Air Corps in 1937. By 1940 he was stationed in Oahu where he served in the 42nd Bombardment Squadron, 11th Bombardment Group. He was awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded in the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He became a staff sergeant and a B-17 gunner.
During the spring of 1942, the 11th BG's B-17s flew patrols to keep an eye out for any Japanese naval vessels in the Hawaiian area. On one such patrol on April 5, 1942, Easter Sunday, Sgt. Donart's B-17 #41-2443 was sent out to look for a suspected Japanese submarine. It returned back from patrol in bad weather and growing darkness. It crashed into Mount Keahiakahoe near Pali Lookout. All ten onboard were killed.
His grave is at Forest Cemetery in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
Last year on this date I profiled Pearl Harbor fallen Louis Dasenbrock, 11th Bombardment Group. You can read about Louis 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
No comments:
Post a Comment