Darrell A. Waas
He was a casualty of World War II on April 5, 1945. He is honored and
remembered by the people of Arizona.
Darrell A Waas is among the 2,003 American Gold Star casualties recorded
in our archive with close ties to Arizona. This is a substantial number
of individuals who gave their lives in service to their country.
ORIGINS
Darrell A Waas was born on July 12, 1925. According to our records
Arizona was his home or enlistment state and Maricopa County included
within the archival record.
SERVICE
He had enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces. Served during
World War II. Waas had the rank of Staff Sergeant. His military
occupation or specialty was Engineer Top Turret Gunner. Service number
assignment was 39862730. Attached to 446th Bomber Group, Heavy, 705th
Bomber Squadron. B-24H Liberator, 42-94941, Pin Up Girl.
CASUALTY
During his service in World War II, Army Air Forces Staff Sergeant Waas
experienced a critical situation which ultimately resulted in loss of
life on April 5, 1945. 19 years old.
CASUALTY CIRCUMSTANCES:
Darrell was in a B-24 Liberator when it had mechanical problems while
flying over the western occupied portion of Holland after a cancelled
bombing run to Bayreuth. While at low altitude, about 1000 ft, the plane
was hit by German Triple A guns. As the plane was going down Darrell was
ordered to bail out. His parachute got caught on the tail rudder and
then tore loose. Darrell died from the fall.
Three other crew members also died.
Robert Lajoie-Pilot,
Leo R. Coyle, Raymond G. Theisen.
Four survived the crash,
Lt. Beebe-CoPilot,
Sgt.Okla Elmer Edgell,
Sgt. Normand Durette, gunner
and Hill.
Reference:
"A
Plane Falls in Barendrecht", by Hans Ondorwater.
COMMENDATIONS
★ World War II Victory Medal
★ Air Medal
★ Purple Heart
★ American Campaign Medal
★ Army Presidential Unit Citation
★ Army Good Conduct Medal
★ European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign
Darral A. Waas : Staff Sergeant from Arizona, World War II Casualty
www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=15991
Reference Links:
FieldsofHonor-database.com
This link is a US State Department description of a 2017 ceremony held at
a war memorial in Barendrecht, Netherlands.
https://nl.usembassy.gov
/dodenherdenking-in-barendrecht/
This is a site dedicated to the monument itself, which includes a
memorial stone dedicated to the fallen crew of Darrell's B24. If you
cycle through the photos you can see an up-close version of that
particular stone.
www.4en5mei.nl/oorlogsmonumenten/
zoeken/601/barendrecht-verzetsmonument
This is a picture of the "nose art" on that plane, along with an
attached document apparently filed a few days after the plane was
reported missing.
www.b24bestweb.com
/pinupgirl2.htm
Missing Air CRE! Report
Click to
enlarge
HonorState-Org-DarrellAWaas2019-06.pdf
DarrellAWaas-APlaneFalls.pdf
DarrellAWaas-AdavernMemories2014.pdf
DarrellAWaas-AdavernMemories2014(2).pdf
Darrell-Waas-14_1940Census.pdf
.jpg)
Darrel
A Waas information and downloads. (On DropBox) |
