TRANSFERRED
Aviation Cadet Duane Sweeny has been transferred from Minter Field, Bakersfield, Calif., to Pecos, Texas air field for advance flying instructions, according to word received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. l. Sweeny, 119 Platner street.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Friday, January 21, 1944, Page 10
Lt. DUANE SWEENY LEAVES WEDNESDAY
Lt. Duane Sweeny concluded a month’s leave when he left Wednesday morning for further pilot training at Roswell, N. M. Lt. Sweeny came last week from Pecos, Tex., and has been with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Sweeny.
During his visit here, the Sweeny’s entertained at a dinner party to honor their son. Those present were Mr. and Mrs. William Groepper of Avoca, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Wederquist and daughter, Jane, of Neola, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Haas and Mr. and Mrs. August Christensen of Minden and Douglas Haas, R.M. 2/c and wife and Mrs. Henry Groepper, jr. and son, Henry III, of Staten Island, N. Y.
Council Bluffs guests were Mr. and Mrs. Clark Hough and Donna Mae, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Spears, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Crow and Sylvia and Linda, Mesdames Russell Hunter, Ester Hunter, Grant Sweeny, Gilbert Haas and Lytton Crow, Clifford Miller, George Burhman and Rolland Sweeny.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Friday, March 22, 1944, Page 5
RETURNS TO CAMP AFTER VISIT HERE
Gerald E. Sweeny, radio technician, second class of the coast guard, left Wednesday after spending a 10-day leave at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Sweeny, 119 Platner street.
Cadet Capt. Rolland Sweeny of the army air force reserve at Coe college, Cedar Rapids, and 2nd Lt. Duane Sweeny, in combat crew training at Sioux City, also arrived on the weekend to visit their brother. This visit marked the first reunion of Lt. Sweeny and Radio Technician Sweeny since November 1942.
Another brother, Lt. Curtis L. Sweeny is stationed in England.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Wednesday, July 26, 1944, Page 10
OVERSEAS
Lt. Duane Sweeny, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. l. Sweeny, 119 Platner street, has arrived safely overseas, according to a cablegram received by his parents Monday.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Tuesday, October 24, 1944, Page 6
SWEENY BROTHERS MEET OVERSEAS
Soon after 2nd Lt. Duane G. H. Sweeny, 20-year-old B-17 Flying Fortress pilot, arrived at this 8th air force base he was welcomed to England by his brother, 25-year-old 1st Lt. Curtis L. Sweeny, who has been in Britain with the quartermaster corps for 14 months.
The brothers are the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Roland L. Sweeny, 119 Platner street. Before joining the armed forces they were employed in Omaha, Lt. Duane Sweeny at the Union Pacific headquarters and Lt. Curtis Sweeny by Swift and company. In the photograph Lt. Duane Sweeny is shown at the left, Lt. Curtis Sweeny at the right.
When the Sweeny brothers met in England it was the first time they had seen each other for two years.
Lt. Duane Sweeny is a member of the colorful 390th bomb group.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Thursday, November 16, 1944, Page 20
Duane Sweeny Is Reported Missing
2nd. Lt. Duane G. Sweeny has been missing in action over England since Dec. 30, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Roland L. Sweeny, 119 Platner street, were notified this week.
Lt. Sweeny was graduated from Abraham Lincoln high school in 1942, entered the army air force soon thereafter and was commissioned a second lieutenant from the air field at Pecos, Tex.
Lt. Sweeny was piloting a B-17 Flying Fortress with the Eighth Air Force when reported missing.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Sunday, January 21, 1945, Page 12
Memorial Rites Set for Lt. Sweeny
Memorial services for 1st lt. Duane G. Sweeny, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Sweeny, will be held at 3 p.m. at the Grace Presbyterian church with the Rev. Leon C. Hills officiating. Lt. Sweeny was reported missing in action since his plane was lost Dec. 30, 1944, en route to Castle, Germany, for a bombing mission, had been officially declared dead.
Lt. Sweeny was president of his graduating class at Abraham Lincoln high school in 1942. He was also president of the Hi-Y organization, a member of the national scholastic honorary society, a captain in the R. O. T. C. and member of the Ionian literary society.
Enlisting in the air corps in February, 1943, he was commissioned at Pecos, Tex., and became a first pilot on a B-17. He had been stationed in Europe with the 9th air force since October, 1944. He wore the bronze star with an oak leaf cluster, the presidential
citation, and the air medal.
Fred A. Hays and Miss Virginia Hays will sing at the memorial service.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Thursday, January 17, 1946, Page 2
Duane Grant Henry Sweeny was born Sept. 28, 1924 to Rolland LeRoy and Dorothy Marie Graeppe Sweeny. He died Dec. 30, 1944/FOD Dec. 31, 1945 and is memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Cambridge, England and has a cenotaph in Walnut Hill Cemetery, Council Bluffs, IA.
Source: ancestry.com; abmc.gov
