Black Hawk County

Lt. Wendell L. Daily

 
 

 

Two Waterloo Men Listed as Dead

First Lt. Wendell L. Daily, 28, and Pfc. J. D. Crow, 24, Wednesday were officially listed as dead according to work received here by relatives.

Lieutenant Daily, who was previously reported missing in B-24 action over France on Jan. 17, 1944, is now presumed to have been killed on that date, according to word received by his brothers, Robert Daily, Jr., 431 Almond street and W. K. Daily, 1414 Grant avenue.

The war department message was relayed by an aunt, Miss Betty Hiser of Kankakee, Ill., with whom the officer made his home for many years.

Lieutenant Daily, son of R. H. Daily of Dysart, was co-pilot of a B-24 Liberator. Before entering service on June, 1942, he was employed as a switchman on the Illinois Central railroad in Waterloo.

He went overseas in June, 1944, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the air medal with oak leaf clusters.

Daily was born Oct. 27, 1916, in Dysart. He made his home with his aunt in Kankakee after the death of his mother in 1922. He was graduated from Kankakee high school in 1936, coming to Waterloo shortly afterward.

Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Wednesday, March 14, 1945, Pages 1 & 2 (photo included)

1st Lt. Daily served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps 566th Bomb Squadron, 389th Bomb Group, Heavy and was KIA in Normandy, France. He is buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupre, Belgium.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and Purple Heart.

Source: fieldsofhonor data base