I know that Memorial Day was yesterday, but I just found the neatest site while researching my Turner ancestors!
Jerry Roy McDonald was the 8th and youngest child of Mattie Turner McDonald (my 1st cousin twice removed). He died in WWII when his plane was shot down near Munich, Germany in 1945.
I just did a routine Google search for Jerry R McDonald, which I do with each ancestor, although I usually don’t get any new or different information. But this time…:
(Dick Herbst via 55th FG Newsletter)
Capt. Jerry R. McDonald
338th FS – July 1944 – 28 February 1945 (Killed in Action)
| Assigned Aircraft |
P-51D ? |
| Mission History |
Not Known |
| Mission List |
Not Known |
| Air Scores |
1-0-0 |
| Ground Scores |
1-0 |
| Score Detail | 24 December 1944 Me-109 destroyed (air) S/Coblenz 14 January 1945 Me-262 destroyed (ground) Parchim |
| Notes | 13 December 1944 – Awarded 2nd Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal 02 February 1945 – Awarded 4th Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal 16 February 1945 – Promoted from 1st Lieutenant to Captain 17 February 1945 – Awarded 5th Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal 28 February 1945 – Killed in Action. The mission was a fighter sweep in the vicinity of Munich, Germany. Capt. McDonald spotted and was strafing a train near Landshut when he was caught in the enormous explosion of the train and crashed and killed instantly. Capt. McDonald is buried at Lorraine American Military Cemetery and Memorial, St. Avold, France. He was from Texas.Reproduced with kind permission of Mr. Robert M. Littlefield from the author’s book Double Nickel – Double Trouble |
| Memories | |
Wow, a picture of Jerry Roy McDonald! This is just too exciting. I already had some basic info on his military service, but not any details!
The site is the 55thth Fighter Group Website, a United Kingdom site. It has photographs, statistics, oodles of info!
Here’s another photo, this time a group shot of the 338th FS Personnel on 11th Aug 1944:
Capt Jerry R McDonald is #10 in this image.
You can study old documents and read books by the case to learn about an ancestor, but there is nothing better than a photograph to turn that data and those sources into a person! Jerry McDonald wasn’t married at the time of his death, but he had parents, siblings, friends- all who loved him and missed him. He gave his life for the freedoms that we all enjoy today.
Capt Jerry Roy McDonald, U S Army Air Forces, is buried at Lorraine American Cemetery, St Avold, France.
