Clyde L. Yaegle was born at Minidoka County, Idaho on October 6, 1917, and lived at Heyburn, Minidoka County, Idaho. His parents were Louis William Yaegle Jr (1 Apr 1895 – unk) and Dorsa Velma (Brown) Yaegle (later Dorsa Qualls) (11 Jan 1897 – 8 Nov 1978). His parents married at Heyburn, Minidoka County, Idaho on December 23, 1914. Clyde Yaegle had an older brother, Otto Glen Yaegle (6 Oct 1915 – 27 Sep 1986); and a younger sister, Hilda Mae (Yaegle) Rolls (later Hilda Mae Lempke) (22 Jun 1920 – Jun 1996). His father was a farmer in Heyburn, Idaho. By September 1936 Dorsa Yaegle was married to a Mr. Qualls, and lived in Tucson, Arizona. By November 1939 Dorsa Qualls returned to Pocatello, Idaho. The April 1940 US Census records that Dorsa Qualls was widowed, and worked as a practical nurse in the private home of a Mr. Thomas Dailey in Pocatello, Idaho.
Clyde Yaegle completed two years of high school. In 1939 he worked at a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp in Idaho. In October 1940 he and his mother, Dorsa Qualls, moved to San Diego, California, where Clyde trained at an aviation school. He worked for Ryan Aircraft Company in an unskilled occupation in the building of aircraft. He was married to Gertrude Yaegle when he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Los Angeles, California on October 30, 1943. His mother lived at San Diego, California from October 1940 through at least April 1945.
After training at Buckley Field, Colorado, and Las Vegas, Nevada, he was assigned as an aerial gunner on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Arthur G. Allard Jr, in the 839th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group. This Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near the village of Lavenham, Suffolk, England. The Allard crew arrived at Station 137 by October 4, 1944, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.
On March 11, 1945, S/Sgt Yaegle flew as waist gunner on the crew of Lt Joseph M. Sugarman Jr in the 839th Bomb Squadron, on a mission to bomb the industrial area and shipyards on the south bank of the Elbe River at Hamburg, Germany.
S/Sgt Yaegle and eight of his crew mates 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 Eldon A. Mau. Their remains were not individually identifiable.
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