Orval Hartwig Mickelson
Military“23094 AC – Left to right : 2nd Lt. Orval H. Mickelson, Hot Springs, S.D.; 2nd Lt. Albert C. Naum (unknown); 2nd Lt. Robert E. Nelson, Riverside, calif.; 2nd Lt. Richard Schoenberger, Miamisburg, Ohio.” (Awards ceremony in Egypt – photo sent on 3 March 1943 by Lt. Tom Prideaux, from 9th Combat Camera Unit, Cairo, Egypt.) Note : There are five men on the photo and four names in the caption, but comparing photo 23094 AC with 23095 AC, one can determine that in this photo, Albert C. Naum is indeed 2nd from left and Richard Schoenberger, 4th from left.
Added photo
Assigned to 409BS, 93BG, 8AF USAAF. Shot down 16-Apr-43 in B-24 41-23732 'Liberty Lass'. Plane crashed into Bay of Biscay. Prisoner of War (POW) placed in Stalag Luft 3, Sagan, Poland. Force-marched to other camps and ended up in Stalag 7A Moosburg, liberated 29-Apr-45 by US troops. Retired as a Lieutenant. Col. from USAF
Awards: AM (3OLC), POW, WWII Victory, EAME.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 93rd Bomb Group 409th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 12030272
- Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
- Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 93rd Bomb Group 409th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-790930
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 93rd Bomb Group 409th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 35170034
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 93rd Bomb Group 409th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-660347
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 93rd Bomb Group 409th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-433371
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
- Role/Job: Pilot
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Liberty Lass
- Unit: 93rd Bomb Group 409th Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 16 April 1943
Places
- Site type: Prisoner of war camp
- Known as: Dulag Luft Grosstychow Dulag 12
- Site type: Airfield
- Site type: Prisoner of war camp
- Known as: Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany
- Site type: Prisoner of war camp
- Known as: Stalag 17b, Krems an der Donau, Austria
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Minnesota, United States | 10 January 1918 | |
Enlisted |
5 January 1942 | Fort Meade, South Dakota | |
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
Zagan, Poland | 16 April 1943 | Prisoner of War (POW). Stalag Luft III. NARA WWII POW record:"Returned to Military Control 30 July 1945." |
Died |
14 January 1998 | Winter Park, Orange County, California | |
Buried |
Glen Haven Memorial Park, Winter Park, FL | 17 January 1998 | Orval Mickelson rests at the Glen Haven Memorial Park, Winter Park, Florida |
Based |
Hardwick | 16 April 1943 | Assigned to 409BS, 93BG, 8AF USAAF. |
Revisions
MACR 15198
WWII Draft Registration card
NARA WWII Enlistment record
NARA WWII POW record
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 15198 Losses of the 8th and 9th AFs Vol. 1 by Bishop and Hey, p. 104, NARA, Natioanl Gravesite Locator