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| Distinguished Flying Cross hero Lt. Raymond DeMers was a P-51 pilot in the 355th Fighter Group. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59072091/raymond-francis-demers https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4d/39/73/4d397386473726709401f934828c008d.jpg |
Raymond Frances DeMers never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Raymond was born on February 13, 1920 in Nebraska. His parents John and Merle were born in South Dakota and Nebraska, respectively. His father worked in the lumber supplies industry. Raymond had one older brother, one younger brother, and one younger sister. By 1940 he was attending college while living at home. He worked as a clerk and may have been in the Nebraska National Guard.
He enlisted in the Army Air Forces in January 1942. He ended up with the rank of first lieutenant in the 357th Fighter Squadron, 355th Fighter Group. The 355 FG was originally equipped with P-47 Thunderbolts but they were replaced by P-51s in the spring of 1944. For the most part its main role was escorting American bombers on missions to continental Europe.
Lt. DeMers was killed in action on April 24, 1944. On that day he was flying P-51 #42-106723, The 355th FG was escorting a major effort to bomb targets in the Munich area. There were more than 700 bombers escorted by more than 800 fighters. But by the time the bombers reached the target there were only 88 P-51s left that had enough full to go all the way. They ran into more than 250 German fighters. Lt. DeMer's was credited with shooting down two Me-109s over Munich. On the way home DeMers decided to fire on some barge traffic in the Rhine River. His wings broke under stress while he was pulling out. His plane crashed near Birgen, Germany. More details on the 355th's mission for that day can be found here: http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/24april44.html
His grave is at Greenwood Cemetery in Sidney, Nebraska.
Last year on this date I profiled DFC hero and A-36 pilot William Libbert. You can read about 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
Thankyou for the story and thankyou sir for your service and sacrifice.
ReplyDeleteI missed WW2 by 5 years and joined RCNR in 1951 after being told that to be a naval pilot on a carrier wasn't possible because Canada was scrapping her 2 carriers. I took my private pilot training in 19557 and still they wouldn't relent even when my flight instructor told me I was a natural at flying, so I learned how to be a TAS techie. TAS= Torpedo Anti-submarine. Should have gone to the UK and joined the RN. They probably would have taken me, but the old 'not enough money' did me in again.
ReplyDeleteGodspeed Sir - Fighting all the way home.
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