World War II Honoree

Lynn W. Hadfield

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Salt Lake City, Utah

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Second Lieutenant. Inducted into the United States Army December 22, 1942 at Salt Lake City, Utah. Upon his graduation from recruit training, he was designated to attend the Flight Aviation Training Program. As a graduate of the Aviation Cadet program, he accepted his commission with the Rank of Second Lieutenant and Pilot Wings. He served as a Pilot aboard the Douglas A-26B Invader Bomber, assigned to the 642nd Bomber Squadron, 409th Bomber Group, Ninety-Seventh Combat Wing, an element of the U.S. Ninth Army Air Forces. His unit was based at the Laon-Couvron Air Base, near the village of Couvron, France. Wednesday, March 21, 1945 he was reported missing in action, when his aircraft was shot-down by German anti-aircraft ground fire, while participating in a bombing mission to Dülmen, Germany. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Netherlands American Cemetery Location: Margraten, Netherlands. Personnel from the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency in November and December of 2016 excavated the crash-site. The team recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, military gear 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. This Airman’s family requested that he be buried with Military Honors at Memory Grove Memorial Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Utah, with interment Thursday, March 21, 2019. This American Patriot received the following decorations posthumously: Air Medal and the Purple Heart. The Air Medal was awarded to the Lieutenant for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight, and the Purple Heart for his Heroism and ultimate sacrifice.