AXEL ROLAND DAHLIN b.
Aug 15, 1920 Sundale, Manitoba, Canada d. April 11, 1944
Killed in Action Stalham, Norfolk, England
2nd Lt
O-687997 Army Air Force 790th Bomb Squad 467th Bomb Group
Buried Roseland Park Cemetery, Berkley, Michigan
Parents: John Conrad & Mary/Anna Marie
(Martell)
Siblings: Gerda Kristina, Myrtle, Mildred, Edith,
Albert, VioletSpouse: Irene Turski
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| 15014 Mark Twain |
John and Mary were both born in Sweden and
immigrated to Canada. All their children were born there. In 1927 the entire
family came to Detroit to join Uncle Osterberg who lived at 15014 Mark Twain. The
Dahlins had 7 children – a lot of people in any house. But quickly they owned a
house in Brightmoor on Bentler. John was a carpenter perhaps that accounts for
their regularly moving. Unfortunately as is typical for houses in Brightmoor
they’re all gone now.
The family found employment as soon as they were out of
school. In 1940 the 3 oldest daughters lived elsewhere; Edith was a dental
technician and Axel a frame man for the telephone company.
Axel was busy in school He received special mention
in the 1937 yearbook’s Inside Stories: ‘Axel Dahlin was hitching his wagon to a
star when he built a raft in preparation for the time when he will travel o’er
the wide, wide world. He goes polling up the Rouge River with a song in his
heart and a trill in that characteristic whistle of his.’ His song was ‘Asleep Awake’.
Draft registration was Feb 13, 1942 in
Detroit. Axel was 5’10”, 179 lbs with blue eyes and red hair. He worked at
Kelsey Hayes Wheel Co. In the military he joined the Army Air Corps and
attended a Texas navigation school from which he graduated in 1943. On Jan 5,
1944 he married Irene Turski in Detroit, barely three and half months before
his death. She remarried in 1949.
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| Skinner Crew |
He was navigator on a B-24H produced at
Ford’s Willow Run plant. Serial #42-52531 names ‘Devil’s Hostess’. The plane
was on its second combat mission to the Focke-Wulf factory in Ascherleben,
Germany. On its return it crash landed onto a bungalow at Stalham Green,
Norfolk, England.
Devil's Hostess crew 7 KIA 2 RTD:
2nd/Lt. Jack M. Skinner Pilot KIA
2nd/Lt. Charles L. Stuckman Co Pilot KIA
2nd/Lt. Axel R. Dahlin Navigator KIA
2nd/Lt. Emmett L. Wilder Bombardier KIA
T/Sgt. Raymond J. Eaton Engineer KIA
S/Sgt. K. Norris Harshbarger Jr. KIA Radio Op.
Sgt. Myer L. Miller Gunner
Sgt. Phillip J. Mastrandea Gunner
Sgt. Truman S Thompson
S/Sgt. Russell E Reed KIA
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| Devil's Hostess Crash |
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