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Personal info

Full name
LE BRUN, Paul Lawrence
Date of birth
6 August 1921
Age
21
Place of birth
West Virginia
Hometown
McDermott, Scioto County, Ohio

Military service

Service number
35440527
Rank
Technical Sergeant
Function
Engineer/Top Turret Gunner
Unit
563rd Bombardment Squadron,
388th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Missing in Action
Date of death
25 July 1943
Place of death
North Sea, west of Denmark

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Albert LeBrun (father)
Lucinda E. (Lilly) LeBrun (mother)
Albert C. LeBrun (brother)
John G. LeBrun (brother)
Walter H. LeBrun(brother)
Joseph F. LeBrun (brother)
Florence (Thompson) LeBrun (wife)
George L. LeBrun (son)

Plane data

Serial number
42-5907
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Wing and a Prayer
Destination: Hamburg, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the diesel engine works
MACR: 3120

More information

Paul LeBrun enlisted on 10 August 1942 in Huntington, West Virginia.

The mission of the day was bombing the diesel engine works in Hamburg, but due to cloud cover the airfield of Rerik-Zweedorf was bombed.

The precise details as to the manner in which this airplane was lost are not very clear. No one of the returning crew members on the other aircraft in the group were certain of the last time they saw it. The only thing that is certain is that it bombed the target together with the rest of the formation. One crew reported it missing shortly after the formation had left the target. Another crew seemed to have felt that it broke away from the group as it passed the Danish west coast and headed to join a larger group. At that time it didn't seem to be in any particular trouble. However this airplane was last seen being attacked by enemy fighters. It is thought that the airplane must have went down in the North Sea somewhere west of the Danish peninsula. The fact that the remains of two crew members washed ashore makes it certain it crashed into the sea.

The entire crew of ten men was killed. Eight of them are still unaccounted for.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, John LeBrun, www.388bg.org, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - WWII Young American Patriots / 1930 Census

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.ancestry.com - WWII Young American Patriots, John LeBrun - grandson