Doerr Lyle Joseph

Name:

Lyle Joseph Doerr

Rank:

First Lieutenant

Serial Number:

O-760600

Unit:

602nd Bomber Squadron, 398th Bomb Group

Date of Death:

1944-12-30

State:

North Dakota

Cemetery:

Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Coton, South Cambridgeshire District, Cambridgeshire, England

Plot:

Tablets of the Missing

Row:

Grave:

Decoration:

Air Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart

Comments:

Lyle Joseph Doerr was born on November 26, 1923, in Monango, Dickey County, North Dakota. He was the son of Joseph Oliver Doerr and Bertha Gregg Doerr. He enlisted in the service on February 22, 1943. He served in the 602nd Bomber Squadron, 398th Bomb Group, as a First Lieutenant and Pilot of B-17 #42-102610 nicknamed ''Boomerang'' during World War II.

On December 30, 1944, during a mission targeting Bischoffsheim, Germany, Boomerang failed to make the assembly and was seen trailing smoke before crashing into the English Channel off Beachy Head, UK. All nine crew members aboard were killed in action.

1Lt Doerr was reported Missing in Action and officially declared dead on December 30, 1944. His name is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing in the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Coton, South Cambridgeshire District, Cambridgeshire, England. He also has a cenotaph in the Rose Hill Cemetery, Wentworth, Lake County, South Dakota, USA. Lyle J. Doerr's name is inscribed on the Anstey Window Memorial in Panel 2 (center), on Butterfly 7.

Source of information: www.americanairmuseum.com, www.398th.org