CO-PILOT MISSING -- Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Lamer received a message Friday informing them that their son, 2nd Lt. Kenneth Lamer, has been missing in action since April, 10. He is a co-pilot of a B-17 bomber, and left the United States last January. He had been based in England, and informed his parents earlier this month that he had made 16 missions over enemy territory.
Source: Mason City Globe-Gazette, April 30, 1945 (photo included)
IOWA FALLS ACE DECLARED DEAD
Lt. Kenneth Lamer, 20, Downed Over Germany
Iowa Falls -- Mr. and Mrs. Eugene L. Lamer received a letter from Maj. Gen. Edward F Witsell, adjutant general of the army, that their son, 2nd Lt. Kenneth E. Lamer, has been declared dead.
Lt. Lamer was reported to be a prisoner of the Germans following a mission over Brandenburg, Germany, April 10, 1945. His plane was damaged and forced down by flak near Seehausen, Germany, on the main road between Magdeburg and Braunsweig.
The 9 crew members parachuted successfully and were taken prisoner. Three were marched in one direction, 6 in another. Lt. Lamer was one of the 6. The 6 included, besides Lt . Lamer, Lt. Kenneth P. Dolan, the pilot; Sgt. Larry T. Maxim, the nose gunner; and 3 others. Lt. Dolan and Sgt. Maxim were forced to drop out of line because of injuries received in parachuting.
Lt. Lamer and his 3 companions were marched away and were never heard from again. They were last seen by Lt. Dolan at Hornhausen, about 20 miles southwest of Magdeburg.
Investigation has been made by the war crimes commission and a personal investigation by Lt. Dolan, but no trace of the missing 4 members of the crew has been found.
Lt. Lamer, 20, enlisted March 27, 1943. He left the United States in January, 1945. He was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Lamer.
Source: Mason City Globe-Gazette, April 20, 1946
Kenneth Eugene Lamer was born Aug. 12, 1924 to Eugene Lewis and Mabel E. Plumb Lamer. He died Apr. 10, 1945/FOD Apr. 11, 1946 and is memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing, Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands and is buried in Eldora City Cemetery, Eldora, IA
2nd Lt. Lamer served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps 832nd Bomber Squadron, 486th Bomber Group, Heavy and was a co-pilot a B-17 bomber that was forced down by flak near Seahausen, Germany. He was taken prisoner and never heard from again. He was declared MIA/KIA/FOD. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters.
Source: ancestry.com; abmc.gov
