MISSING IN ACTION

1Lt David Merle Diamond

BIRTH 16 Sep 1917

Montgomery County, Arkansas, USA

DEATH 11 Jul 1943 (aged 25)

Sicilia, Italy

BURIAL

Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial

Nettuno, Città Metropolitana di Roma Capitale, Lazio, Italy

PLOT Block D Row 15 Grave 26

MEMORIAL ID 56308189 · View Source

MEMORIAL

PHOTOS 1

FLOWERS 6

71st Fighter Squadron 1st Fighter received the Purple Heart and the Air Medal...Killed in Action in Mid-Air Collision.

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Army Service No. (ASN): #O-730402

71st Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter Group

Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart

David M. Diamond is listed as Killed In Action in the 1946 Army and Army Air Forces Personnel Casualty List for Scott County, Arkansas.

Arkansas, Birth Certificates, 1914-1917, lists birth of David Merle Diamond in South Fork Township, Montgomery County, Arkansas on September 16th, 1917.

Information below gleaned from: http://raf-112-squadron.org/1st_fg.html

11 Jul 43, Dive bombing and strafing continued. Four more pilots ended up missing. Lt Ernest Chapman (71st) and Lt David M. Diamond (71st) collided in mid air over Sicily. Chapman bailed out (MACR# 101) and returned to his unit on the 16th after evasion, but Diamond was listed as MIA (MACR# 109).

On the second pass late in the afternoon anti aircraft fire from tanks hit Lt Dee A. Johnson from the 94th. Johnson managed to keep his plane flying for awhile until he plunged into the sea and was listed as MIA (MACR# 110). Lt Charlie W. Brown, a 27th pilot, bailed out over the target area when he was hit by anti-aircraft fire, resulting in a bizarre encounter with Italian troops, and eventually returned to his unit on 25 August 1943 (MACR# 112).

***I would like to thank Pat Hall Find A Grave ID 31827704 for creating this memorial***