Name:
Donald W. Burch
Rank:
Second Lieutenant
Serial Number:
Unit:
36th Bomb Squadron, 482nd Bomb Group, Heavy
Date of Death:
1944-12-22
State:
Cemetery:
Plot:
Row:
Grave:
Decoration:
Comments:
Donald W. Burch served in the 36th Bomber Squadron, 482nd Bomber Group, Heavy, as a Second Lieutenant and Co-Pilot on the B24 #42-51232 'The Jig's Up' during World War II. On December 22, 1944, their aircraft crashed into the sea close to North Stack in Wales, UK. The cause of the accident was a lack of fuel that resulted in a diversion to the Anglesey Wartime Air Base. It is reported that the B24 bomber was flying in fog, and the crew did not know that they were over the sea. The pilot ordered his crew to bail out, believing they were flying over land. Only the pilot, Lt H.Boehm, and his co-pilot, D. Burch, survived. The rest of the crew members were lost to the sea, and their bodies were never recovered.