Loring Evans Lord was born on December 27, 1916, in Massachusetts. He was the son of Francis Lord and Elsie Lord. He attended high school for four years and later worked in an aircraft factory. He volunteered for the Army Air Corps in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 10, 1942. He served in the 642nd Bomber Squadron, 409th Bomber Group, Light, as a Staff Sergeant and Mechanic/ Gunner of A-26B #43-22359 during World War II.

On March 21, 1945, A-26B Invader 43-22359 of the 642nd Bombardment Squadron, 409th Bombardment Group (Light), Ninth Air Force departed Advanced Landing Ground A-70 Laon-Couvron, France, as part of a formation tasked with attacking the German rail hub at Dülmen. This mission formed part of the Allied interdiction campaign designed to disrupt troop movement ahead of the planned Rhine River crossing (Operation Plunder) two days later. As the formation approached the target area near Reken, German anti-aircraft artillery (flak) opened intense fire on the low-flying Invaders. 43-22359 sustained a direct hit to the wing, immediately crippling the aircraft. Pieces of wing structure and shrapnel violently disintegrated outward, and the pilot lost all control authority. The aircraft crashed into the countryside to the northwest of Reken, killing the crew instantly.

After Lord’s aircraft crashed near Groß Reken, several of his crewmembers were initially buried by German forces and later exhumed and identified by the U.S. Army in 1945. Although an initial search of the crash site yielded only aircraft debris, new information from German researcher Adolf Hagedorn in 2014 led to renewed investigations. In 2018, DPAA recovery missions uncovered identification media and possible remains linked to Lord’s crew, which were analyzed through anthropological methods and mitochondrial DNA testing. Lord is commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, where a rosette marks that he has now been accounted for. SSgt Lord is now buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Everett, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.army.mil, www.fieldsofhonor-database.com