Eldon A. Mau was born in Kankakee County, Illinois, on February 8, 1920. He was the fourth of six children of Arthur P. Mau (24 Dec 1886 – 20 Mar 1965) and Ida L. (Schultz) Mau (17 Oct 1888 – 19 Jun 1964), who were born in Illinois and married about 1913. His father was a farmer. His siblings were Kenneth F. Mau (15 May 1914 – 9 Nov 2005), Raymond L. Mau (18 Mar 1916 – 25 May 2006), Everett H. Mau (13 May 1918 – 12 May 1999), Lucille (Mau) Fieldman (abt 1922 – ), and Darlene C. (Mau) Drechsel (abt May 1924 – ). In 1940 the family lived in Round Grove Township, Livingston County, Illinois.
Eldon Mau completed four years of high school, and moved to San Diego County, California, where he worked in an unskilled construction occupation. He was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Chicago, Illinois, on August 24, 1942. His home of record was San Diego County, California. His mother's address in 1945 was Buckingham, Kankakee County, Illinois.
He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery training, and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Joseph M. Sugarman Jr. The Sugarman crew completed B-17 operational training in the States, and deployed to England. The crew was assigned to the 839th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. They arrived at Station 137 by February 13, 1945, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.
On March 11, 1945, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched forty aircraft to bomb an industrial area and shipyards on the south bank of the Elbe River in Hamburg, Germany. This was the fifth combat mission for the Sugarman crew.
S/Sgt Mau and eight of his crewmates were killed in action on March 11, 1945, when their aircraft, B-17G 43-38888, was shot down by flak at Hamburg, Germany. The aircraft crashed at 1310 hours near Meckelfeld, about 20 kilometers south of Hamburg. One man, radio operator T/Sgt Harvey F. Schlotte, survived and became a prisoner of war. The dead were buried initially at the cemetery in Sinstorf, a southern suburb of Hamburg.
After the war, his remains were returned to the United States and reinterred at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado. He is buried in a common grave with his crew mate Clyde L Yaegle. Their remains were not individually identifiable. S/Sgt Mau's name is also honored on the Livingston County World War II Memorial at the Courthouse in Pontiac, Livingston County, Illinois.
B-17G 43-38888 crew:
• Sugarman Jr, Joseph M – 1/Lt – Pilot – KIA
• Crosland Jr, William S – F/O – Copilot – KIA
• Barnett, James S – F/O – Navigator – KIA
• Owen, Charles V – Sgt – Togglier – KIA
• Stanton, Willard W – S/Sgt – Engineer – KIA
• Schlotte, Harvey F – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – POW
• Mau, Eldon A – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – KIA
• Yaegle, Clyde L – S/Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Berger, Robert M – Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Simac, Edward A – Sgt – Tail Gunner – KIA
Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com