Warbird Information Exchange

All,

While researching pilots who trained/instructed at Greenville AAF, MS, I stumbled upon an article titled "Sgt. Alan Zimmer, Former GAAF Cadet, Missing In Action".

While attempting to research Sgt Zimmer, I found a Find A Grave memorial for a Sgt Alan C. Zimmer. The memorial has a date of death of 5 Mar 1944, one month prior to the date of the newspaper article, thus seems likely it is the same individual. The Find A Grave memorial has a photograph of the memorial at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Philippines, that shows he was with the 491 Bomb Squadron, 341 Bomb Group, and that he was from New York. This is also consistent with the article linked about, that stated his father, William W. Zimmer, resided in Syracuse, NY.

This is the extent of what I've been able to piece together. Fold3 doesn't have much. An enlistment record for an Alan C. Zimmer with Syracuse, NY, as the enlistment place and a birth year of 1920.

I then turned to Ancestry.com and found that his middle name might be "Covey". This led me to a draft registration card for a Alan Covey Zimmer, born 19 Sep 1920, with a "William Zimmer" of Syracuse, NY, as a "person who will always know your address".

I haven't been able to find another article on Newspapers.com for "Alan C. Zimmer" or "Alan Covey Zimmer" that seem consistent with this invdividual.

I did find a Facebook post titled "Names of 3168 Missing US Military Personnel Still Unrecovered in China-Burma-India Theater of World War II: S-Z" dated 15 Apr 2017, with entry number 723 simply stating "723. Sgt. Alan C. Zimmer".

If anyone has any thoughts on where I might find more information on him, it would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Jordan

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Greenville Flyers: The Legacy of Allied Pilots Who Flew at Greenville Army Airfield

Some details of Sgt. Zimmer's final mission. Zimmer was part of Capt. George Williams' crew.

http://rshonor.org/node/12366


An additional source may be the following book:

https://www.amazon.com/Diary-Squadron-T ... B004BHCJWU

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Dan,

Thanks for the lead!

This is a tough one to find information on. I did find one article written in 2016, George Scearce Jr, WWII Veteran, in which he recounts a mission that is likely the same one these guys lost their lives on. Mr. Scearce was serving with the 22nd Bomb Squadron, which is mentioned in the first link you provided. Also, the article describes that one aircraft didn't make it back.

While I wasn't necessarily surprised to not find a MACR for Alan C. Zimmer (misspelled as Allen in the Remembering Shared Honor entries), I am surprised that I can't find a MACR associated with any of the crew. I built family trees for each on Ancestry, and nothing additional revealed in terms of finding a MACR.

I did find record of Alan C. Zimmer being posthumously awarded the Conspicuous Service Medal by the State of New York. The information on that record is consistent with all else that I've found thus far (first/middle name spelling, mother's name, unit served with).

Alan Zimmer would make an interesting subject for my research since he is the first cadet I've identified who appears to have washed out of pilot training, but then went on to serve as aircrew and ended up KIA. I'm sure there were others, but he's the first I've identified.

So the search continues...

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Greenville Flyers: The Legacy of Allied Pilots Who Flew at Greenville Army Airfield