World War II Honoree

Donald L. Beals

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Brookings, South Dakota

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: First Lieutenant. On September 7, 1942 he entered the United States Army Air Corps with his induction at Omaha, Nebraska. After completing Boot Camp, he was selected to attend the Flight Aviation Training Program. Served as a P-47D ‘Thunderbolt’ Fighter Pilot, assigned to the 494th Fighter Squadron, Forty-Eighth Fighter Group, and a subordinate unit of the U.S. Ninth Air Force. His unit was based at the Grimbergen Airfield in Belgium. Reported missing in Action Tuesday, April 17, 1945 during a reconnaissance mission to Dresden, Germany. En route to the target area, he spotted enemy aircraft on the ground near Lonnewitz, Germany, and was instructed to attack. As he began to dive, he was struck by intense anti-aircraft fire. Later his missing in action status was amended to read killed in action on April 18, 1946. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the American Cemetery in Henri-Chapelle, Belgium. After the cessation of hostilities in Europe, the 607th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company, Quartermaster Corps conducted recovery operations in Germany and his remains were not recovered. In June of 2004, a Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command investigation team in the area of Dresden was directed to an aircraft wreckage site by two German researchers. The team found some remains, American military gear, machine guns, and other artifacts. The remains were transferred to the Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, were he was identified. The remains of this Airman were interred with Military Honors, October 17, 2016 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. He received the following awards posthumously: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with seven oak leaf clusters and the Purple Heart. The Distinguished Flying Cross awarded for Heroism or Extraordinary Achievement while participating in aerial flight. Air medal awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.