Warren Francis Donovan

Military
media-15095.jpeg UPL 15095 Jack K. Larsen Crew
384th BG - 544th BS

Back L-R: Lt. John Fallon (N), Lt. Jack K. Larsen (P), Lt Warren Donovan (CP), Lt. Edward Murray (B)

Front L-R: Sgt. Robert Cole (RO), Sgt. John Moore (TG), Sgt. Karl Barnes (FE), Sgt. Edward Simon (WG), Sgt. Edward Holler (WG), Sgt. Alton Haverlah (BT)

Object Number - UPL 15095 - Jack K. Larsen Crew 384th BG - 544th BS Back L-R: Lt. John Fallon (N), Lt. Jack K. Larsen (P), Lt Warren Donovan (CP), Lt. Edward Murray...

B-17F #42-29717 'Mr. Five By Five' was last seen with one engine feathered and heading towards Switzerland on a mission to Stuttgart, GR on 25 Feb 1944. Prisoner of War (POW).

POW



https://natickveterans.com/2017/08/03/warren-donovan/

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 384th Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 384th Bomb Group 544th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-802583
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Pilot

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Little Audrey
  • Unit: 306th Bomb Group 384th Bomb Group Base Air Depot 1 368th Bomb Squadron 544th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Mr Five by Five
  • Unit: 384th Bomb Group 544th Bomb Squadron 94th Bomb Group 92nd Bomb Group 326th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Patches : The Spotted Cow
  • Unit: 384th Bomb Group 547th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Little Barney
  • Unit: 303rd Bomb Group Base Air Depot 1 384th Bomb Group 544th Bomb Squadron
Ten men in Air Force uniform posed in two rows in front of an airplane.  Four men standing to the rear and six men kneeling in front.
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Cabin In The Sky
  • Unit: Base Air Depot 1 303rd Bomb Group 384th Bomb Group 544th Bomb Squadron

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Westport, MA 7 June 1915

Enlisted

Boston, MA 10 March 1941

Other

POW

Barth, Germany 1 March 1944 Stalag Luft I

Died

Acton, MA 11 October 2004 Warren F. Donovan of Acton, executive vice president and chief executive officer of H.P. Hood and Sons, died April 11 at Emerson Hospital of pancreatic cancer. He was 88. Mr. Donovan was born in Westport, where he milked cows on his family's farm while attending the town high school. After graduating from Westport High School, he worked for H.P. Hood as a truck driver, earning $22.50 a week. About a year later, in 1937, he was promoted to superintendent of the company's New Bedford County department. His responsibilities included monitoring milk quality, inspecting farms, weighing and sampling milk, and collecting milk from farms. In 1941 he enlisted in the Army Air Forces and became a bomber pilot, flying B-17s in Europe. On Feb. 24, 1944, the plane Mr. Donovan was flying experienced engine failure, forcing him and his crew to parachute into enemy territory, according to family members. Mr. Donovan was shot in the head while trying to rescue a member of his crew and captured by the Germans. He was a prisoner of war for 16 months at Stalag Luft 1 near the Baltic Sear in Barth, Germany. He was liberated by the Russian Army in 1945. Mr. Donovan attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Prisoner of War Medal, and the Air Medal and Cluster. He was a founding member of the American Air Museum in Britain, a museum established as a memorial to the 30,000 Americans who died aboard combat aircraft flying from the United Kingdom in World War II. After the war, Mr. Donovan returned to H.P. Hood and worked at the Connecticut and Florida plants before becoming executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Acton plant. Mr. Donovan retired from H.P. Hood in 1983. He then worked for American Express Travel, delivering tickets to various businesses and private homes. Mr. Donovan also worked with the National Library of Congress in Washington on creating an oral history of World War II. The history included videotaped interviews of veterans. Also, he frequently lectured at Bentley College in Waltham about his war experiences.

Buried

23 June 2005 Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA Section: 68 Grave: 1829

Other

Shot Down/Captured

Bruschal, Germany 25 February 1944 Failed to Return Comments: 41C Group, High Squadron, Lead Group. Feathered #2 engine at 1325 hrs but continued on towards target; at 1420, three minutes before target was reached, jettisoned bombs and peeled off from formation, perhaps heading for Switzerland; crash-landed near Bruchsal, Germany. MACR 2774

Revisions

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 2774 / MACR 2774, Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces, http://384thbombgroup.com/_content/_pages/PersonnelSearch.php?LastName=… / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

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