Missing information?

Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?

Submit

Personal info

Full name
JASINEK, Donald Leonard
Date of birth
6 August 1918
Age
24
Place of birth
Joliet, Will County, Illinois
Hometown
Joliet, Will County, Illinois

Military service

Service number
O-735382
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
510th Bombardment Squadron,
351st Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
19 May 1943
Place of death
Baltic Sea, off the coast of Kiel, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
John L. Jasinek (father)
Agnes (Krause) Jasinek (mother)
John Jasinek (brother)
William Jasinek (brother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-29701
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: In The Mood
Destination: Kiel, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the U-boats yards
MACR: 15719

More information

Donald L. Jasinek graduated from high school and was employed at International Harvester Company.

He enlisted in Chicago, Illinois on 29 July 1941.

The airplane, piloted by Lt Mansfield, was last seen near Kiel Fjord, Germany. Seven crew members were killed, three men were taken prisoner

Two of Mansfield's friends said "In The Mood" was observed going down still under control, although two of her engines were on fire, after the attack, in which heavy anti-aircraft fire was encountered. The bomber later was seen burning on the water.
1st Lt James W. Strouse and Lt Alva Westhaver, pilot and co-pilot of another B-17 saw Mansfield's bomber glide swiftly downward with the number three engine shattered and the number two engine afire. "It happened just after we dropped our bombs and were turning off the target, Strouse said. Mansfield got his bombs away, too. Mansfield was flying in the group above us. He sort of peeled off and whizzed right across our nose about 30 yards away. His number two and three engines were on fire, apparently having been hit by flak. When he was about 1,000 feet below us his number three engine exploded, but he still had his ship under control and was going down at about a 30-degree angle.
He came down across my side of the ship, said Westhafer. As he went by I could see Mansfield and Jasinek working hard at their controls and the top turret, ball turret and tail gunners were blazing away at enemy fighters, which were all around our formation but did not come in close while we were in the target area. Enemy fighters did not gang up on Mansfield as they usually do on crippled stragglers. Strouse said the planes were flying well over 20,000 feet.
Our waist gunner, Sgt S. Tyler, told us he watched Mansfield until his ship was only about 3,000 feet above the water. Tyler said the crippled bomber was still under control all that time, and he never did see enemy pursuit ships close in on Mansfield's tail. He added it looked like Mansfield was trying to make a belly landing on the water."

The raid was the second mission for Mansfield and his crew.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com - MACR 15719, www.ancestry.com - Possley Family Tree, www.newspapers.com - The Wilkes-Barre Record, WWII Draft Card

Photo source: Astrid van Erp, Leo Kohlen