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Personal info

Full name
DAWSON, Jennings Bryan
Date of birth
27 March 1921
Age
23
Place of birth
Jane Lew, Lewis County, West Virginia
Hometown
Jane Lew, Lewis County, West Virginia

Military service

Service number
O-716379
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Navigator
Unit
578th Bombardment Squadron,
392nd Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
11 September 1944
Place of death
At the edge of the woods 400 meters northwest of the village of Winnen, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
O 13 4

Immediate family

Members
Mary B. Dawson (mother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-7466
Data
Type: B-24H
Nickname: Ford's Folly
Destination: Hannover, Germany
Mission: Bombing of an engine factory
MACR: 8850

More information

Lt. Jennings B. Dawson attended Alderson Broaddus College.

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Wheeling, West Virginia on 5 February 1943.

After the war, a surviving crew member, S/Sgt Odell F. Dobson, gave the following statement: "Going to the target we were attacked by enemy fighters (Me-109s). Number three (3) engine was hit and set afire; fire broke out in the bomb bay and we lost the formation as a result of these damages. The airplane went into a shallow dive and the crew prepared to bail out. Before this could be accomplished, however, the airplane started to spin and crashed."

Two crew members survived and were taken prisoner. Eight were killed. The bodies of two crew members were found about 20 meters from the wreckage and an unknown number of remains were found in the wreckage itself. All were buried by a German army team in the cemetery at Winnen.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.b24.net/missions/index.htm, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / 1940 Census, WWII Draft Card

Photo source: 392nd Bomb Group