Donald W. Simonson was born on November 18, 1920 in Thermopolis, Hot Springs County, Wyoming. He resided in Albany County, Wyoming prior to the war. Donald served as a Second Lieutenant and Flight Engineer on B-29 #42-6230, 792nd Bomber Squadron, 468th Bomber Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.

B-29 #42-6230 took off from Pengshan, China on a bombing mission over Japan. They were shot down over Wakamatsu Fukuoka, Japan by a Japanese fighter plane. This aircraft and crew had the distinction of being the first B-29 shot down over Japan. All eleven crew members were Killed in Action on this mission along with one civilian. He was originally interred overseas and was later repatriated in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Lemay, St. Louis County, Missouri, USA in a common grave with his crew on August 8, 1949.

2Lt Simonson was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com