Edwin Walfred Hiro was born August 13, 1916 in Chisholm, St. Louis County Minnesota. His parents were John and Lempi Sikkala Hiro. He had one sister Elsie. Both of his parents immigrated from Finland and his father worked as a Miner in the Iron Mines. Edwin graduated from High School and attended two years of college before he enlisted.

He was working at the Donaldson’s Department store as a clerk in the office when he registered for the draft in October 1940. He then enlisted in the Army Air Forces Aviation Cadet program in January 1942. He served during World War II and had the rank of Major. Service number was 728661. He served with 357th Fighter Group, 363rd Fighter Squadron as a Pilot of P-51 Mustangs.

Hiro was reported missing and ultimately declared dead on September 19, 1944. The P-51’s were on a mission to provide area support and flying at about 13,000 about 10 miles west of Arnhem. They saw about 10 enemy planes engaged in a fight with about 15 Allied airplanes. Major Hiro made a sharp turn to the left and got on the tail of an enemy ship. Luftwaffe reports attached to Hiro's Missing Aircrew Report reported that a Mustang crashed at Ahaus (a village 38 miles west of Arnhem), it had been shot down by an enemy fighter. He was credited with destroying 5 enemy aircraft in aerial combat. He was killed by machine gun or cannon fire from a German fighter aircraft.

He was first buried temporarily in a Catholic cemetery in Vreden, Germany near his crash site and he is memorialized at Margraten, Netherlands Tablets of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location. The present location of his remains is unknown

COMMENDATIONS

Distinguished Flying Cross

Purple Heart

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/. This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Sources:

https://www.ancestry.com/ - 1920, 1930, 1940 census, draft card

https://www.findagrave.com/

www.honorstates.org

https://www.fieldsofhonor-database.com/index.php/en/american-war-cemetery-margraten-h/47313-hiro-edwin-w

Hiro, Edwin Walfred, Maj