William DeValera Curtin was born on July 14, 1923 in San Francisco County, California to Daniel and Hannah Loche Curtin. They were both born in Ireland arriving in the USA in 1907 and 1910 respectively. Daniel worked as a Motorman for the Railway Municipality, he died in 1967. William was the youngest of four children including Daniel Jr., Jack and one sister Anna.

He had enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and served during World War II. Curtin had the rank of Staff Sergeant. Service number assignment was 39038488. Attached to 34th Bomber Group, Heavy, 7th Bomber Squadron as an Engineer.

Curtin lost his life on D Day June 6, 1944. He was the Engineer on the crew of B-24 Liberator #41-28838 "Misery Agent" on a mission towards Normandy on D-Day on Operator Overload. They ran out of fuel and crashed into the trees and burned near the English coast killing the 9 crew members on board. They were still carrying twelve 500lb bombs at the time.

William DeValera Curtin is buried at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Colma, San Mateo County, California.

COMMENDATIONS

★ Purple Heart

9 casualties related to the #41-28838 incident on June 6, 1944.

Find A Grave Memorials for crew below:

Pilot: 2nd Lt. Herman H Doell, NJ https://www.fold3.com/page/529901467/herman-m-doell/stories

Co Pilot: 2nd Lt. Lewis A Duncan, TX https://www.fold3.com/page/529906544/lewis-a-duncan/stories

Gunner: S/Sgt. Vincent C Drozdek, IL https://www.fold3.com/page/529903321/vincent-c-drozdek/stories

Radio Operator: S/Sgt. Alvin T Rainey, LA https://www.fold3.com/page/84828511/alvin-t-rainey/stories

Navigator: 2nd Lt. Robert K "Bob" Swarthout, MI https://www.fold3.com/page/529905973/robert-k-swarthout/stories

Ball Turret Gunner: S/Sgt. Jerome M Helget, MN https://www.fold3.com/page/653606404/jerome-m-helget/stories

Engineer: S/Sgt. William De Valera Curtin, CA https://www.fold3.com/page/639659138/william-d-curtin/stories

Waist Gunner: S/Sgt. William E Price, OK https://www.fold3.com/page/638820248/william-e-price/stories

Tail Gunner: Sgt. Arthur Stancati, NJ https://www.fold3.com/page/638198187/arthur-f-stancati/stories

_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:

www.ancestry.com

www.findagrave.com

https://www.honorstates.org

William D Curtin