David James Gerrits was born June 21st, 1923 in Little Chute, Outagamie County, Wisconsin. His mother was Eleanor “Nellie” Leona Gerrits (nee Hall) (b. 15 Jan 1892-d. 18 Nov 1974) who kept the family home. His father was Martin J Gerrits (b. 28 Oct 1893-d. 13 Jul 1974) who worked as a chemist and a chemical engineer in the food industry.

David had two brothers and three sisters, Mary (b. 12 Aug 1920), James (b. 14 Nov 1921), Barbara (b. 12 May 1926), Eleanor (b. 24 Aug 1928), and Peter (b. 20 Oct 1937). The family moved around the country quite a lot. David’s parents were married in Montgomery, Indiana, lived in Oshkosh and Little Chute, Wisconsin where Mary and David were born, moved to Buffalo, New York where Barbara and Elanor were born, were recorded in Chicago, Illinois during the 1930 census and were in Ferguson, Missouri where Peter was born. They were living in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania by 1940.

David went to Upper Darby High School, taking College Preparatory classes and participating in band activities. He graduated in 1942, at which time his draft card listed him as a white male, six feet tall and weighing 135 pounds with hazel eyes, brown hair and a light complexion.

David was single and living in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania when he was drafted and entered into service on January 5th, 1943, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His enlistment record indicates that he had one year of college, and he was brough on as a warrant officer with Army Serial number 33479687. David went to flight school and was commissioned as an officer with United States Army Air Forces with the serial number O-821258.

By May 1944, David left for his overseas deployment and was part of the Army Air Force, 710th Bomb Squadron, 447th Bomb Group Heavy. In the spring of 1944, he was the co-pilot for the B-17 Flying Fortress known as Idiots’ Delight, aircraft number #42-30301 and flying out of Rattlesden USAAF Station 126 in Suffolk, England. They inherited this plane from another crew that had survived 50 missions without even turning back once for mechanical reasons. The plane was good luck, safely flying through a period when 80 other B-17s were lost.

On June 19th, 1944 the crew was assigned a mission to bomb an airfield at Saint-Jean-d'Angély, France. Throughout World War II, the airfield served as a Luftwaffe fighter base and the allies needed to suppress those defenses to enable safer bombing raids into Germany.

At 03:00 on the 19th the crews were briefed on the mission and takeoff stated in the dark before dawn at 05:21. Unfortunately, on this day the target area was cloud covered and obscured. The bomber formation made two runs over the target, but there was no clear shot and no bombs were dropped.

At about 11:18 the Idiots’ Delight was flying over Alderney, a three-mile-long island in the English Channel occupied by Germany and fitted with antiaircraft artillery. When the B-17 was hit by flak, the bombers flying alongside reported it exploded almost immediately. The crew was forced to ditch the plane over the channel and only five to seven chutes were seen by the accompanying bombers. None of the crew returned from the war. One crew member, S/Sgt. James J. Wolfe, is listed as a prisoner of war on some internet sites, but no records of his capture or fate were found and his parents processed a World War II beneficiaries case, only listing his missing-in-action status from the shoot-down.

The crew of the Idiots’ Delight were:

2nd Lt. Theodore A. Milton - Pilot (O-813553) Savannah, Georgia
2nd Lt. David J. Gerrits - CoPilot (O-821258) Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania
2nd Lt. Marvin B. Stokes - Navigator (O-708296) Jacksonville, Florida
2nd Lt. Eugene A. Lightfoot - Bombardier (O-757078) Pleasant Hill, Illinois
S/Sgt. Edgar L. Sikes - Engineer/Top Turret Gunner (18077960) Tanoka, Texas
Sgt. Hugh O. Crimmins - Ball Turret Gunner (13144159) Monkton, Maryland
S/Sgt. Dewey L. Rhoads - Left Waist Gunner (18216686) Corsicana, Texas
Sgt. Willard F. Laney - Right Waist Gunner (39272046) Los Angeles, California
Sgt. Arthur H. Gruneisen - Tail Gunner (32770545) Plainfield, New Jersey
S/Sgt. James J. Wolfe - Radio Operator (37663885) Danville, Iowa

2nd Lt. David J. Gerrits received an Air Medal and a posthumous Purple Heart. He has a headstone in Arlington Cemetery, located in Section MB, Site 5. 2nd Lt. David J. Gerrits is also memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing, at the Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial in Saint-James, Departement de la Manche, Basse-Normandie, France.

Thank you for your service and your sacrifice 2nd Lt. David J. Gerrits.

References:

https://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/4284

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56352962/david-james-gerrits

https://www.fold3.com/record/87157948/david-j-gerrits-wwii-army-enlistment-records

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76200910/david-j-gerrits

https://b17flyingfortress.de/en/b17/42-30301-idiots-delight-aka-missy-g/

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=342992

http://www.447bg.com/June%201944.htm

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 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

David J Gerrits