Donald Dean Prell was born, 21 February 1922 in Shelby, Nebraska to the parents of Raymond R Prell and Fannie Kiesselbach. He enlisted 24 January 1941 at Omaha Nebraska. He was assigned to the 392nd Bomb Group.

The 392nd had been activated in early 1943 as a ‘Heavy’ bomber group with four-engine, B-24s. Training occurred in Blythe, California; Tuscon, Arizona; Alamogordo, New Mexico; and finally Topeka, Kansas before deployment overseas. In their USA training, the Group lost 37 men to plane crashes. The training at Alamogordo was immortalized as that word was the code-word used at their base in Wendling, England to announce that a mission had been cancelled. The 392nd arrived in England in the summer of 1943.

On 19 May 1944, the 392nd Bomb Group was assigned the target of an air-field near Brunswick, Germany. On that morning, 28 B-24 bombers departed England for Mission 87. Three bombers were lost in that attack due to more than 150 enemy fighters that relentlessly attacked the bombers. From Second Lieutenant Felsenthal’s crew, all 10 died. From Second Lieutenant Lang’s crew, all 10 died. From Second Lieutenant Prell’s crew, 8 died and 2 became POWs. In addition, Staff Sergeant Granville Burton Evans Jr, from California, was the Tail Gunner on Second Lieutenant Hunt’s crew. Sergeant Evans was the only casualty when he was killed by enemy fighter plane fire in the midst of the bomb-run.

Red Cross reports later confirmed that the eight crew members of Lieutenant Prell’s crew were buried in a local village on 20 May.

2-Lt. Prell’s Crew, 19 May 44, Tail # 41-29129, MACR-5096, Crew Lost:

2-Lt. Donald Dean Prell, Pilot, O-742778, from Nebraska

2-Lt. Daniel B Weiss, Co-Pilot, O-806021, from New York

S-Sgt. Wilho Simila, Nose Gunner, 36554540, from Michigan

T-Sgt. Harvey J Byler, Radio Op, 35514174, from Ohio

S-Sgt. DeMur S Edwards, Asst. Radio Op, 39528562, from Utah

T-Sgt. Donald George Backus, Engineer, 13114075, from Pennsylvania

S-Sgt. John Fred Dreher, Tail Gunner/Asst. Engineer, 35339934, from Ohio

S-Sgt. Bryan Taswell Pearson, Gunner, 34612236, from Mississippi

Bailed out and survived, POWs, returned to USA after WWII:

2-Lt. Hervey Edward Stetson, Navigator, O-685873, from Connecticut

S-Sgt. Albert Joseph Riley Jr, Gunner, 32574639, from New York

In June 1945, after his release from the POW camp in Germany, Second Lieutenant Stetson provided a detailed report about the mission. Lieutenant Stetson recounted that after the first bomb-run, their wing executed a complete 360 degree turn above the target to line up for a second bomb-run. This action left them as “easy prey” for the great number of enemy fighters in the area. Certainly, as the Navigator, Lieutenant Stetson would have had first-hand knowledge of the course that their plane was flying.

Second Lieutenant Donald Dean Prell was later interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery, Belgium. Additionally, he was memorialized at the Graceland Cemetery, Shelby, Nebraska. When he first enlisted in the Air Corps, his Service Number was 17012163. After he received his officer commission, his Service Number was O-742778. He was survived by his parents, seven brothers, and four sisters. His father died in 1946 at the age of 71.

References

From - Ancestry:

Family Trees

Enlistment Record

From - Fold3:

Service Records

MACR-5096, Missing Air Crew Report

From - Newspapers.com:

Shelby Sun (Nebraska), 24 January 1946

Online Resources:

honorstates.org

B-24.net: Mission 87 - Brunswick, Germany

Findagrave:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56360381/donald-dean-prell

Findagrave Memorial ID #: 56360381

Graceland Cemetery Shelby, Nebraska

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/100482833/donald-dean-prell

Findagrave Memorial ID #: 100482833

SBTS:

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? These stories will be accessible via smartphone app at any war memorial or cemetery. If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please email feedback@storiesbehindthestars.org.

SBTSProject/Nebraska/Polk

Donald D Prell