Sioux City Youth Wins Air Medal
First Lieut. Edward R. Mitchell, 24, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Mitchell, 201 Webster building, Fifth and Jackson Streets, was one of eight Iowa members of the United States Army Eighth Air Force in England awarded decorations for valor and exceptional performance against the enemy, the war department announced Thursday night.
The young Sioux City officer received the Air Medal. In a letter written from England Easter Sunday and received Saturday, Lieut. Mitchell said that more recently he had been assigned to ferrying and test hops, but wished to “get back into combat and get the war over with.” He expressed enthusiasm for having been recipient of “handmade shoes and a tailor-made blouse.”
Mrs. Milton Miller, a sister residing at the same address here, said she had no idea what the nature of the “exceptional performance against the enemy” may have consisted of.
Lieut. Mitchell was accepted as an aviation cadet by the air force January 3 and took pilot training on the Pacific Coast. He was graduated from Trinity High School and attended Trinity College. He also took an aeronautical course at Morningside College.
Also receiving the air medal were Technical Sergeant Lawrence J. Brandenburg, LeMars; Staff Sergeant Robert G. Lentz, Fort Dodge and Staff Sergeant Kenneth R. Morse, Eagle Grove.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, May 14, 1943
Kenneth Reginald Morse was born Nov. 16, 1921 to Francis Augustus and Julia Engleson Morse. He died Feb. 26, 1943 and is buried in buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Clarion, IA. He is also memorialized at Runnymede Memorial in England.
Sgt. Morse served in World War II with the Army Air Corp, 66th Bomb Squadron, 44th Bomb Group (H) and was KIA near Oldenburg, Germany. He was a gunner on the crew of 41-23804 and first declared MIA. He was awarded the Air Medal and Purple Heart.
Sources: World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel from Iowa; ancestry.com
