Relatives here have learned S. Sgt. August “Bill” Davis is suffering from a broken wrist. He is in India.
Source: Council Bluffs Nonpareil, May 14, 1944
MISSING
Missing in the Asiatic area since June 15, is S. Sgt. August Davis.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Friday, July 09, 1944
Declared Dead
S. Sgt. August W. Davis, jr., formerly reported missing in action has been declared dead in an official notification from the war department to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. August W. Davis, 1534 Avenue G, Thursday. A tail gunner on a B-29, Sgt. Davis and his crew failed to return from a bombing mission from Pengshan, China, to Yawata, June 15, 1944. He plane was reported shot down 10 miles northwest of Yawata. Sgt. Davis served one year in Italy and North Africa prior to his assignment in the Asiatic theater. He is a 1938 graduate of Thomas Jefferson high school.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Thursday, December 07, 1944, Page 7 (photo included)
Return Group of Men for Burial
The body of S. Sgt. August W. Davis, jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. August W. Davis, 1534 Avenue G, is being returned to this country for burial from the United States armed forces cemetery in Yohohama, Japan.
Davis, who was a tail gunner on a B-29, was killed on a mission over Japan June 15, 1944. His plane was reported shot down 10 miles northwest of Yawata.
In view of the circumstances of his death, which also caused the death of other crew members, it was not possible to establish individual identification. The men had been interred as a group and will be returned simultaneously for burial in Jefferson Barracks National cemetery at St. Louis, Mo.
Sgt. Davis was graduated from Thomas Jefferson high school in 1938.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Sunday, January 23, 1949, Page 21
Funerals
Funeral services or S/Sgt. August W. Davis, jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. August W. Davis, sr., 1534 Avenue G, will be held Monday at 1:30 p. m. at the Jefferson Barracks National cemetery at St. Louis.
Sgt. Davis was killed on a mission over Japan, 10 miles northwest of Yawata on June 15, 1944. He was a tail gunner on a B-29.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis and son John will leave for St. Louis Sunday evening to attend the service.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Monday, August 07, 1949, Page 11
Uses Soldier-Son’s Bonus to Erect Him a Memorial
Photo caption: Mrs. Gladys Davis adjusts an American flag near her son’s monumental marker – Nonpareil Photo
In the evergreen section of Cedar Lawn cemetery is a stone memorial to a local soldier who failed to return from a bombing mission over Yawata, Japan, in June of 1944. The memorial is for S/Sgt. August W. Davis, jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. August W. Davis of 1534 Avenue G.
It was erected by the soldier’s parents – with the Iowa bonus money S/Sgt. Davis would have received if he were now alive.
“There will always be a memorial to him right next to us,” Mrs. Davis said Saturday. “There is a monument at St. Louis with all of the boys’ names on it (those killed with her son),” she explained, “but we can’t get to St. Louis too often. We can honor him right here, now.”
S/Sgt. Davis was a tail gunner on a B-29 bomber. He was in a squadron which bombed from a base in China.
The Iowa bonus law provides the $500 maximum should be paid to the parents of a serviceman killed in action.
The Davis’ also used part of the money to attend group burial rights for their son and other crew members Aug. 8 at Jefferson Barracks National cemetery, near St. Louis.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Monday, September 11, 1949, Page 3
