Willard Glenn Dunn |
|
Year |
|
Rank/Rating |
|
Status |
|
1930 |
x |
Family |
x |
1930 Census indicates
living at 151 East Madison Avenue |
January,1938 |
x |
x |
x |
Graduated from North High,
Des Moines, IA |
date |
|
Education
|
|
Two years of college |
1940 |
x |
Residence |
x |
1940 Census indicates
living at 151 East Seneca Street |
date |
x |
Family |
x |
Married
Judy Kay Dunn. |
January
23, 1942 |
x |
US Army
Air Corps/
PVT |
x |
Enlisted at Fort Des
Moines, IA. After his death, 1949 Military paperwork filed indicates
prior to entering the armed service he lived at 3220 Fifth Street,
Des Moines, IA (in the Highland Park area) |
date |
x |
US Army Air Corps |
x |
Basic training. Where
and when? 71st Army Air Force Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter Group |
January
22, 1943 |
x |
US Army Air Corps/
2nd Lt. |
x |
Killed in action at Tunis,
Tunisia |
Mar 29,
1949 |
x |
Buried |
x |
Remains returned and interred
at Keokuk National Cemetery, Keokuk, IA |
|
71st Army
Air Corps Fighter Squadron; 1st Fighter Group
The 71st Fighter Training Squadron was founded in December 1940 as the
71st Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor). Initial activation to the 1st Pursuit
Group at Selfridge Field, Michigan on 1 January 1941 was definite evidence
of America's impending direct involvement in World War II. Initial activation
training was accomplished in the P-35. This was changed to the YP-43
Lancer when the squadron was redesignated as the 71st Pursuit Squadron
(Fighter) on 12 March 1941. The squadron gained proficiency in the aircraft
and the anti-submarine mission while training on the Great Lakes. On
9 December 1941, just two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the
squadron reported to NAS San Diego in defense of the important Southern
California coast. Two months later, the 71st moved north to Los Angeles
to transition to the P-38 Lightning and was renamed the 71st Fighter
Squadron. June 1942 saw the 71st become the first single-seat, twin
engine fighter unit to deploy to England during World War II.
The 71st became the first P-38 unit in combat. Capt John D. Eiland was
credited with the squadron's first-ever combat kill after downing a
German Focke-Wulf Fw-190 on 4 December 1942. The pilots were continuously
at the forefront of the air battles.[citation needed] Seventeen Campaign
Participation Credits were awarded to the 71st and they earned three
Distinguished Unit Citations. The squadron claimed 102 kills and produced
5 aces, including one pilot who became an ace in one mission. The 71st
Squadron flew under the "Cragmore" callsign during World War
II, and its original patch included a skull with lightning bolts in
the shape of 71. In June 1943, General Carl Spaatz and General James
H. Doolittle traveled to their UK base to present decorations earned
in combat. This award ceremony was soon followed by Distinguished Unit
Citations presented on 25 August 1943 and 30 August 1943 for escort
missions against Italian targets. The squadron was presented another
Distinguished Unit Citation by General Nathan Twining in May 1944 for
an escort of B-17s against oil installations at Ploiesti, Romania. On
10 June 1944, during an otherwise disastrous low-level bombing mission
against the oil refineries by two groups of P-38s, 2nd Lt Herbert "Stub"
Hatch, Jr. achieved 5 kills in one mission, all within one minute, causing
the gun barrels of his P-38 to melt. Upon completion of its tour in
Europe, the squadron was inactivated in Italy on 16 October 1945.
1st Fighter Group
On the date the United States entered World War II the 94th Pursuit
Squadron was in El Paso, Texas, its 20 P-38s en route from Selfridge
Field to March Field, California. The 27th and 71st squadrons were immediately
sent with an additional 12 P-38s and 24 P-43 fighters to March Field
to provide the West Coast air defense against Japanese attack.
During its brief duty at March Field the Group provided
cadre for newly mobilized fighter groups, losing over half of its assigned
officers and enlisted men, but still made preparations for deployment
to Europe on 25 April 1942. Before its departure, however, retired captain
Eddie Rickenbacker made the first of several visits to the group both
at home and abroad during World War II, listened to the Group’s
concerns and reported them to General "Hap" Arnold. Rickenbacker
also worked with Arnold to reinstate the hat-in-the ring emblem, absent
since Rickenbacker himself claimed the right to it when he retired,
back to the 94th Fighter Squadron.
In 1942, U.S. war policy placed first priority with the
war in Europe. VIII Fighter Command Special Orders 46, dated 25 June
1942, deployed 86 aircraft and pilots of the newly designated 1st Fighter
Group to England as part of Operation Bolero, with the first aircraft
departing on 27 June. Flights of P-38s were led by individual B-17s
from the 97th Bomb Group navigating the route between Presque Isle,
Maine, Labrador, Greenland and Iceland. En route the 27th Fighter Squadron
was detached at "Indigo" airfield, Reykjavík, Iceland,
for air defense duty in July and August. On 15 July 1942, six fighters
from the 94th FS, "Tomcat Yellow" and "Tomcat Green",
and their two B-17 escorts were forced by bad weather and low fuel to
land on a glacier in Greenland. The crews were all recovered safely
but the aircraft were abandoned.
Group headquarters and the 71st Fighter Squadron were
based at RAF Goxhill, near Kingston upon Hull, and the 94th FS at Kirton
in Lindsey. The 27th flew to England on 27 August after the group had
moved south to Ibsley, and was based at High Ercall. During the late
summer of 1942, the 1st FG flew training, escort and fighter sweeps
over German-occupied France. The group experienced its first combat
loss on 2 October 1942, when a P-38F escorting B-17 Flying Fortress
bombers on a mission to Méaulte, France, was shot down by a German
fighter of JG 26 near Calais, and 2nd Lt. William H. Young was killed
in action.
The fighter and bomber groups initially deployed to England
(97th and 301st Bomb Groups, and 1st, 14th, 31st, and 52nd Fighter Groups)
were reassigned to support Operation Torch and redeployed to North Africa.
While in transit, two 94th FS Lightnings were forced by mechanical difficulties
to land in neutral Portugal, where the aircraft were confiscated and
the pilots interned. However 1st Lt. Jack Ilfrey escaped, returned to
the group, and became one of its leading aces. 1st Lt. Robert N. Chenoweth
was killed when his P-38, on a ferry flight from the UK to North Africa,
crashed into a mountain at Ortigueira, Corunna, Spain, on 15 November
1942. By 13 November 1942, the group completed the move to Algeria,
where they provided close air support and fighter protection against
the Afrika Korps.
On 29 November 1942, the 94th Fighter Squadron flew the
group's first combat sorties in the Mediterranean theater, strafing
a German airfield and recording several aerial victories. However, as
the year came to a close, the group's morale sagged. Though the move
from England to the desert environment added sometimes 200–300
hours to the life of the liquid-cooled Allisons, few replacement parts
and virtually no replacement aircraft were available. Col. Clifford
R. Silliman, in charge of Lightning maintenance and repairs for the
1st, 12th and 14th fighter groups, recalled that no hangars, machine
shops or service bays were available, forcing ground crews to make repairs
in the open air. Crewmen were exposed not only to attack but to virtually
incessant blowing sand and dust that continually fouled filters, breathers
and lubricants. The searing sun was so intense that mechanics were unable
to as much as touch the aluminum surfaces of the fuselage, wings and
cowlings with exposed skin, Silliman said. The grating sand found its
way not only into engine components and weapons but crewmens' bedding,
footwear, clothing, hair, eyes and even their teeth. Pilots recorded
some kills, but the loss ratio in air-to-air combat was even at best.
For nearly a year, the group moved throughout Algeria and Tunisia, flying
bomber escort and providing air coverage for the ground campaign. On
23 February 1943, the group began two days of low-level strafing missions
in support of hard-pressed Allied troops at Kasserine Pass, losing several
aircraft.
In April 1943 the Germans made several concerted attempts
to reinforce the Afrika Korps using Ju 52 transports flown at wavetop
level over the Mediterranean Sea, resulting in a series of interceptions
by Allied aircraft and large numbers of transports destroyed. On 5 April,
pilots of the 27th FS shot down 11, plus four Ju 87 Stukas and two Me
109 escorts, losing two Lightnings. On 10 April, the 71st FS intercepted
another large force escorted by 15 Macchi 200 and Fw 190 fighters, shooting
down 20 transports and 8 of the escorts without loss to itself. The
North African campaign ended with the capture of Tunis on 7 May 1943. |
References |
The above information was obtained
from the following:
(1) The World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and
Army Air Forces Personnel were created by the War Department,
the Adjutant General's Office, Administrative Services Division,
Strength Accounting Branch. The original records are held at
the Modern Military records LICON, Textural Services Division
(NWCTM), National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
The documents contain the latest and most complete information
available of all Army and Army Air Force personnel who were
killed or died, or became and remained missing between the President's
declaration of unlimited national emergency on May 27, 1941,
and the cut-off date of this report, January 31, 1946. This
document includes both battle and nonbattle dead and missing.
The records are available online at http://www.archives.gov/.
The type of casualty is indicated by the following:
* KIA - Killed in Action. This
is an individual who was killed in action at the front, by enemy
action in the rear, or if a prisoner of war.
* DOW - Died of Wounds. This
is an individual was who wounded and later died.
* DOI - This is an individual
who suffered fatal battle injuries and died in a line of duty
status.
*DNB - Died Nonbattle. This
is an individual who died in a line of duty death, such as from
sickness, homicide, suicide, or accidents outside of combat
areas (training).
*M - Missing. This is an individual
who is reported as missing and later was determined to be dead.
*FOD - Finding of Death. Findings
of death fall within Public Law 490 and its amendments and are
made when there is either conclusive proof that the person is
dead or equally overwhelming evidence that under the circumstances
the person could not have remained alive.
This document contains the names of those individuals
who died in the line of duty status. Those individuals who were
not in the line of duty at the time of their death are not listed
in this document.
(2) The World War II Army Enlistment Records contain information
on more than nine million indivdual enlistments. These records
can be found online at
http://www.archives.gov/.
(3) The comprehensive list of
names from North High's 1893-2018 graduation classes are from
Claradell Shedd's North Des Moines High School website. The
names of North High School graduates can be found online at:
http://www.ndmhs.com/.
Willard Glenn Dunn's 1938 class page is: http://www.ndmhs.com/pages/yearclass1938(1988.50).html.
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