Staff Sergeant Donald Eugene Pipes, An Airman's Story
Staff Sergeant Donald Eugene Pipes, An Airman's Story
Donald Eugene Pipes was born on June 19, 1923, in Whitestown, Indiana.
In January 1943, in response to World War II, Pipes enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces (later the United States Air Force). He was trained as a tail gunner and assigned to the 431st Bombardment Squadron, deploying to the Pacific Theater as part of the air campaign against Japanese-held territory.
On July 28, 1944, Staff Sergeant Pipes was serving aboard a B-24 Liberator, serial number 42-73018, when the aircraft was observed crashing in flames into the sea near the island of Truk following a mission. The bomber did not return, and the crew was listed as missing in action.
Staff Sergeant Donald Eugene Pipes has no known grave. He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, where his name stands among those lost during the Pacific air war.
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a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
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