Donald R Greene

Military

Killed in Action 3 January 1943 in B-17F 41-24501 while serving as Navigator. Target was the U/B (submarine) base at St. Nazaire, France. 2 engines were shot out by flak over the target. Pilot Ferguson flew the severely damaged plane out to sea but conditions worsened as another engine quit. Turning back to France with German fighters all over the plane, he gave the bail out signal. Navigator Greene and Bombardier Levy fell to their deaths in the surf. Gunners Kerbow and Arnold were killed by gunfire and chute failure. Ferguson chose the runway of a German fighter field to insure early capture.



Connections

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Units served with

Official insignia of the 306th Bomb Group, approved 6 January 1943, and updated 2 October 1951.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Unit: 306th Bomb Group 368th Bomb Squadron

Missions

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Other

Killed in Action (KIA)

Saint-Nazaire, France 3 January 1943 Killed when he baled out of the stricken aircraft and came down in the sea near St. Nazaire, France and drowned.

Buried

Saint-James, France Buried in the Brittany American Cemetery, Plot H, Row 10, Grave 17.

Revisions

Date
Changes
Sources

NOTE: The data in this entry was COMBINED with that of DUPLICATE entry from original ingest of data from Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 16-Jan-2014. Data COMBINED with that of Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database.

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 16-Jan-2015. Added SN, KIA event and crew position per MACR 16427; Added decorations and Burial event per American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) record; made connections to Place, AIrcraft and Mission within existing website data; Edited biography adding crew position.

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Roll of Honor, Losses of the 8th and 9th Air Forces Vol. 1 by Bishop and Hey p. 61 First Over Germany by Strong, p. 60