Donald Hoenig Schmidli was born on January 28, 1924, in Sharon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of John Schmidli and Frieda Hoenig Schmidli. He served in the 613th Bomber Squadron, 401st Bomber Group, Heavy, as a Staff Sergeant and Tail Gunner of B-17 #42-31037 nicknamed "Pistol Packin' Mama" during World War II.

On July 20, 1944, Pistol Packin’ MaMa took off from Deenethorpe for a bombing mission over Leipzig but was diverted to the secondary target at Kölleda airfield due to cloud cover. During the bombing run, the aircraft was struck by flak, igniting a fire in the engine and wing fuel tank, prompting the crew to bail out. The plane spiraled down, lost its tail, and crashed near Bärenhügel, Thuringia, resulting in the deaths of three crew members, while the others were captured and became prisoners of war.

SSgt Schmidli landed successfully, removed his parachute, and was killed by civilians. He is now buried in the Graceland Cemetery, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, USA.

Source of information: aircrewremembered.com, www.americanairmuseum.com