2Lt Donald Joseph Van Dever (1925-1945) - Find a Grave Memorial

Birth: 23 March 1925 Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, USA.

Price College High School Preparatory Class of 1942 Amarillo, Texas.

Enlisted in the Army Air Corps during May of 1943.

Commissioned a 2nd Lt on 20 May 1944.

Nav: O-2058586Donald Joseph Van Dever 2Lt TX 2-4-1945 B-29 #44-69666 Z-SQ-11

MACR 14230

Navigator, B-29-55-BW (Boeing Wichita) Superfortress, serial #44-69666 tail code Z-Square-11 nicknamed "Lucky Eleven" assigned to the 881st Bomber Squadron, 500th Bombardment Group (VH), 73rd Bomb Wing, XXI Bomber Command, 20th Air Force, stationed at Isely Field on Saipan in the Mariana Islands; Western Pacific Theatre of Operations (WPTO).

"The War Department has notified Henry Cecil Van Dever, of Wichita, formerly of Amarillo, that his son, Lt. Donald Joseph Van Dever has been missing in action [POW] since April 2nd, 1945 while on a mission to bombard the Musashino Aircraft Engine Plant located in the Tokyo metro area. The young officer was a navigator-bombardier in a B-29 Superfortress of the 500th Bombardment Group based at Isely Field on Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

Van Dever was a graduate of Price College Prep in 1942, where he was the valedictorian of his class. He was awarded the medal for excellence in science and also the Reader's Digest Award.

Lt. Van Dever received his Navigator Wings and commission at Hondo Army Air Field May 20th, 1944. He was assigned to a B-29 combat crew in Kearney, Nebraska, before shipping for overseas duty. He arrived in the Mariana Islands in February of 1945.

Lieutenant Van Dever, joined the Army Air Forces in May of 1943, while attending the North Texas Agricultural military college at Arlington, Texas.

Mrs Vernon Dye of Claude, Texas is a sister of the missing officer."

The Amarillo Globe-Times

Amarillo, Texas · Page 10

Friday, Dec 14th, 1945

POW: KIA 26 July 1945 during a fire at the Shibuya Military Prison in Tokyo.

During the night of 25-26 May 1945, a total of 464 B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers dropped incendiary bombs on urban area of Tokyo causing huge fires that burned large urban areas including the Tokyo Military Prison. During the fire and the aftermath all the Allied POWs perished.