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Personal info

Full name
BOYD, Arthur Sydney
Date of birth
25 July 1921
Age
22
Place of birth
Valley Junction, Polk County, Iowa
Hometown
San Diego, San Diego County, California

Military service

Service number
37434886
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Waist 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
Waldo S. Boyd (father)
Mary S. (Reid) Boyd (mother)
Waldo T. Boyd (brother)
Mary H. Boyd (sister)
Eva L. Boyd (sister)
Robert K. Boyd (brother)
Lucille I. (Reese) Boyd (wife)

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

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 certainis 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, www.388bg.org, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Steever Family Tree

Photo source: http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/21153