Missing information?

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

Submit

Personal info

Full name
TURNER, Lonnie Austin
Date of birth
29 May 1921
Age
22
Place of birth
Trenton, Edgefield County, South Carolina
Hometown
Trenton, Edgefield County, South Carolina

Military service

Service number
34381157
Rank
Technical Sergeant
Function
Engineer/Top Turret Gunner
Unit
339th Bombardment Squadron,
96th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
15 September 1943
Place of death
Between Le Pecq and Le Mesnil-le-Roi, France

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Lorraine
Plot Row Grave
K 19 32

Immediate family

Members
Lonnie Turner (father)
Pearl (Bryant) Turner (mother)
Jesse J. Turner (brother)
William L. Turner (brother)
Mary A. (McGee) Turner (wife)
Patricia A. Turner (daughter)

Plane data

Serial number
42-3437
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Excalibur’s Revenge
Destination: Paris, France
Mission: Bombing of the Hispano-Suiza industrial complex
MACR: 726

More information

T/Sgt Lonnie A. Turner graduated from Trenton High School in 1939 and worked on a farm before he enlisted at Fort Jackson, South Carolina on 4 August 1942.

The airplane was critically hit. While initial U.S. military records attributed the loss to German anti-aircraft flak, German fighter records indicate it was claimed as an aerial victory by Staffelkapitän Herbert Huppertz of Jagdgeschwader 2 (JG 2) at an altitude of 7,000 meters. The bomber suffered an in-flight explosion, scattering wreckage between Le Pecq and Le Mesnil-le-Roi. Out of the crew of 10 men , 9 were killed in action.

He was first interred in the New Cemetery at Virofly, Paris and was later reburied at the Temporary American Military Cemetery in Solers, France.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / WWII Draft Cards Young Men / Mielke Family Tree, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.findagrave.com – Coleman, https://b17flyingfortress.de/, www.newspapers.com – The Greenville News - 11 October 1943

Photo source: www.findagrave.com – Dan Phelan

Website by Wink