Staff Sergeant Eldon Arthur Mau, Army serial number 36366420, was born at Herscher, Kankakee County, Illinois on February 8, 1920. He was the fourth of six children of Arthur Preston Mau (24 Dec 1886 – 20 Mar 1965) and Ida L. (Schultz) Mau (17 Oct 1888 – 19 Jun 1964), who were born in Illinois and married about 1913. His father was a farmer.

His siblings were Kenneth F. Mau (1914 – 2005), Raymond L. Mau (1916 – 2006), Everett H. Mau (1918 – 1999), Lucille Rose (Mau) Fieldman (1921 – 2013), and Darlene C. (Mau) Drechsel (1924 – ). In 1940 the family lived on a farm in Round Grove Township, Livingston County, Illinois, just west of Buckingham, Illinois.

He completed four years of high school and registered for the draft at Pontiac, Livingston County, Illinois on July 1, 1941. He was 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighed 131 pounds, and had brown eyes and brown hair. At that time he lived with his parents near Buckingham, Kankakee County, Illinois, and was employed by Sanderson and Porter Company in Wilmington, Illinois. He moved to San Diego County, California, where he worked in an unskilled construction occupation. He was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Chicago, Illinois, on August 24, 1942. His home of record was San Diego County, California. His parents' address in 1945 was Buckingham, Illinois.

He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery training, and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Joseph M. Sugarman Jr. The Sugarman crew completed operational training at Avon Park, Florida, and deployed to England in January 1945. The crew was assigned to the 839th Bomb Squadron, 487th Bomb Group, at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. They arrived in England by February 13, 1945, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

On March 11, 1945, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched forty aircraft to bomb an industrial area and shipyards on the south bank of the Elbe River in Hamburg, Germany. This was the fifth combat mission for the Sugarman crew. Here is the crew roster on that day:

B-17G 43-38888 – 839th Bomb Squadron

• Sugarman Jr, Joseph M – 1/Lt – Pilot – KIA

• Crosland Jr, William S – F/O – Copilot – KIA

• Barnett, James S – F/O – Navigator – KIA

• Owen, Charles V – Sgt – Togglier – KIA

• Stanton, Willard W – S/Sgt – Engineer – KIA

• Schlotte, Harvey F – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – POW

• Mau, Eldon A – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – KIA

• Yaegle, Clyde L – S/Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA

• Berger, Robert M – Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA

• Simac, Edward A – Sgt – Tail Gunner – KIA

S/Sgt Mau and eight of his crewmates were killed in action on March 11, 1945 when their aircraft, B-17G 43-38888, was shot down by flak at Hamburg, Germany. The aircraft crashed at 1310 hours near Meckelfeld, about 20 kilometers south of Hamburg. The radio operator, T/Sgt Harvey F. Schlotte, survived and became a prisoner of war. The dead were buried at the cemetery in Sinstorf, a southern suburb of Hamburg.

His remains were returned to the United States and interred at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado on February 6, 1951. He is buried in a common grave with his crewmate Clyde L. Yaegle in Section A, Site 115. Their remains were not individually identifiable.

S/Sgt Mau's name is inscribed on the Livingston County World War II Memorial at the Courthouse in Pontiac, Illinois.

Sources:

1. 487th Bomb Group Association

2. 1920 US Census; Illinois; Kankakee County; Otto Township. Mau, Arthur. 3 Jan 1920 (his father)

3. 1930 US Census; Illinois; Kankakee County; Pilot Township. Mau, Arthur. 8 Apr 1930 (his father)

4. 1940 US Census; Illinois; Livingston County; Round Grove. Mau, Arthur. 15 Apr 1940 (his father)

5. Chicago News Tribune. Obituary of Raymond Mau. 26 May 2006 (his brother)

6. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004

7. Enlistment Record of Eldon A. Mau

8. Historical Marker Database. World War II Memorial – Livingston County, Illinois

9. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 12979

10. U.S. Burial Registers, Military Posts and National Cemeteries, 1862–1960 (ancestry.com)

11. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Nationwide Gravesite Locator

12. U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928–1962 (ancestry.com)

13. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946

14. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)

Research by:

Paul Webber

Find A Grave member ID 47577572

Bio added 12 Dec 2012

Last edited 22 Jul 2024