Merlin Francis Lanphier was born May 21, 1925 to Arnet Glenn and Leona Irene Depenning Lanphier. he died Aug. 6, 1945 and is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, Newton, IA.
Lt. Lanphier served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps with the 500th Bomb Squadron and was KIA. He was a co-pilot of a bomber on a combat mission striking enemy shipping near Fusan, Korea, when a burst of enemy anti-aircraft fire found its mark, causing his plane to explode and crash.
Source: ancestry.com
