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Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1919.
After graduation from St. Mary’s Cathedral High School in Lincoln in 1937, he attended the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln. During World War II he served in the 95th Bomb
Squadron–17th Bombardment Group, U.S.A.A.F., and was a major participant in
the first significant American success against the Japanese. In this daring,
daylight raid on Tokyo, Japan, he served as an
Engineer-Gunner on a B-25, that bombed Tokyo under anti-aircraft fire.
The “Green Hornet” ran out of fuel
before reaching the China coast and crashed. Fitzmaurice drowned in the China Sea. Historians have credited this mission with prematurely pushing the
Japanese Navy into a disasterous attack on Midway,
a defeat considered to be a turning point in World War II. His Aviation
Awards include Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, American Defense
Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World
War II Victory Medal, and the Chinese Breast Order of Yung Hui.
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