Lorin David McCleary Jr ★ World War II Gold Star Veteran from Indiana

On May 11, 1944 Second Lieutenant McCleary was declared a casualty of World War II. ★ He served with honor in the United States Army Air Forces. ★ He is remembered by the people of Indiana. ★ May his positive example inspire us. Working together towards peace, mutual respect, and equality for all.

Lorin David McCleary Jr

World War II

Indiana

B-24 Airmen

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Our displayed data concerning the life and military history of Lorin David McCleary Jr is a work in progress. We've assembled a list of elements we are in the process of researching and reviewing. This profile was last edited on 2020-12-23 03:10:18.

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Missing : Core Data

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Missing : Supplemental Data

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Service Details

This Profile ID	465028
Service ID	O-751745
Name	Lorin David McCleary Jr
From	Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana
Birth Date	July 29, 1915
Casualty Date	May 11, 1944
War	World War II
Service Branch	Army Air Forces
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Specialty	Pilot
Unit/Group	487th Bomber Group, Heavy, 838th Bomber Squadron
Casualty Type	KIA - Killed in Action
Location	Chateaudun, France
Burial	New Albany National Cemetery, New Albany, Floyd County, Indiana
Notable Awards	★ Air Medal ★ Purple Heart
Remembered	Lorin David McCleary Jr is buried or memorialized at New Albany National Cemetery, New Albany, Floyd County, Indiana. This is a National American Cemetery administered through the Department of Veteran's Affairs.

Additional Details

Lorin David McCleary Jr was the son of Lorin David McCleary Sr and Margaret Anna Barbara Courtland. He married Evelyn E Hill in 1939. He enlisted in the US Army Air Corps at Patterson Field in Dayton, Ohio on May 1, 1942.

On May 11, 1944 he was on the crew of the B-24H Liberator #42-52444 when they took off from Lavenham, England on a mission to bomb the railroad yards at Chaumont, France. Navigational error resulted in their formation flying over accurate German flak guns guarding the airfield at Chateaudun, France. Their aircraft crashed with only one man, the engineer, surviving.

We identified 9 casualties in our archive related to the #42-52444 incident on May 11, 1944.

◼Clemente M Barboza :: Ball Turret Gunner

◼Paul K Churm :: Top Turret Gunner

◼Arthur C Frey :: Nose Gunner

◼Dale L Knapp :: Tail Gunner

◼Victor S Kramer :: Navigator

◼Lorin D McCleary Jr :: Pilot

◼Ernest E McCoy :: Co-Pilot

◼Eugene McKee :: Radio Operator

◼Joseph D Perry :: Bombardier

Commendations + Awards

Please note this might not be a complete or completely accurate accounting. For some awards we use probability factors based on known service details. Thanks for your understanding.

★ Air Medal

★ Purple Heart

★ United States Aviator Badge Army

★ World War II Victory Medal

★ American Campaign Medal

★ Army Presidential Unit Citation

★ Army Good Conduct Medal

★ Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal

★ European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign

Notable Reference Sources

These are typically links to pages on external sites that have provided specific nodes of information. In most cases the information has some assurance of being crowd-sourced and vetted by a community of users.

findagrave.com/ memorial/ 3285144/ lorin-david-mccleary

Indiana Gold Star Veterans Gallery

Honoring the men and women of Indiana who gave their all for their country. May their example of courage and sacrifice be our guide. To be strong and responsible in our lives as citizens of the world. Through honest daily actions, we honor them.

▶ Indiana was home to over 13,306 American Gold Star veterans from 4 wars of the 20th Century. Some significant statistics:

• 1,625 World War I
• 9,224 World War II
• 925 Korean War
• 1,531 Vietnam War
• 212 Prisoners of war
• 2,036 Missing in action
• 56 Pearl Harbor casualties
• 133 D-Day Normandy casualties
• 6 Medal of Honor recipients

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