At Solemn Ceremony, WWII Airman Reaches Final Resting Place

PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS

A small urn containing the remains of Technical Sergeant Donald Dorman, who died in World War II during a bombing mission over Germany, was buried Tuesday morning at Oak Hill Cemetery with full military honors as a crowd bore witness.

The ceremony followed a memorial service at First Congregational Church where a new and more complete account of Dorman’s wartime exploits was shared.

Starting around eleven a.m., a procession consisting of about one-hundred cars wound southward down Route 10, slowly following a black hearse as it made its way from the church to the northeast corner of the cemetery. The Southington Police Department closed the road, over which hung a large American flag suspended from a ladder truck of the Southington Fire Department. Upon reaching the cemetery, mourners gathered near the gravestone where Dorman’s mother and grandparents are buried.

An honor guard and a contingent of veterans from the American Legion formed a rectangle near a black tent set up by the grave to ward off rain:

Seated underneath the tent were Dorman’s surviving cousins and other members of his extended family.

As the ceremony began, four servicemembers in dress uniform carried an ark holding the urn out of the hearse, to the accompaniment of a lone bag-piper. Once the ark was in position, Reverend Laura Kisthardt, Associate Pastor of First Congregational, delivered a final eulogy for Dorman, with readings from a letter of Paul, 1 Thessalonians 4, and the 139^th Psalm, which begins, "You have searched me, o Lord, and you know me."

After a hymn was played on the sound system, riflemen fired the traditional three-volley salute in honor of the fallen. While they did so, a pair of Blackhawk helicopters from the Connecticut Army National Guard emerged from the south to overfly the cemetery grounds:

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As soon as silence returned to the oak-lined grounds, a bugler played Taps. To conclude the ceremony, an American flag was carefully folded thirteen times into a triangle and handed to Dorman’s family. Lauren Dziedzic from Plantsville Funeral Home then invited those present to attend a celebration of life for Dorman at the Aqua Turf Club.

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The story of airman Dorman’s life and final mission has been sketched out before. However, Dorman’s family recently put together an account of his service in the war more detailed than any that had previously been made public. Their eloquent account, which was printed on the program for the memorial service, has been reproduced in full below so that it may be archived for posterity.

Donald Arthur Dorman

Still in his late teens when he joined the Army Air Forces during World War II, this young man went on to have an extraordinary – though tragically short – military career.

He was Technical Sergeant in the 429^th Bomber Squadron, serving as an engineer and upper turret gunner aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress. According to newspaper accounts, military records, and family stories, his quick thinking and bravery twice saved his fellow crewmen and their aircraft.

The first time, while flying over Germany, the plane was struck and the wing caught fire. Donald climbed out onto the wing while it was still in flight and managed to extinguish the blaze. In doing so, he badly burned and froze his fingers, injuries severe enough to require hospitalization.

A newspaper article at the time reported: “Awarded Air Medal – 15^th A.A.F. in Italy – Sergeant Donald A. Dorman, 20, of 140 North Main Street, Southington, an aerial engineer on a 15^th Army Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress, has been awarded the Air Medal for ‘meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight…’.”

On another mission over Germany, while the aircraft was again under heavy fire, a bomb became stuck in the bomb bay and the “fuse spinner spun free.” Normally when a bomb is released and falls through the air, the rushing wind causes the spinner fuse to rotate, arming the bomb in the process. But sometimes, simply opening the bomb bay doors can create enough airflow to make the spinner fuses begin spinning. And when a live bomb is jammed inside the bomb bay – well, that’s a very bad situation to have on your hands. According to reports, Donald once again leapt into action. He stopped the spinning fuse and pushed the bomb out before it could detonate. In the freezing air and dangerously low oxygen, he again severely injured his hands and eventually lost consciousness. For his actions, Donald received the Silver Star for “Gallantry in Action.”

Donald’s final mission again placed the crew in the midst of intense enemy fire. After completing their bombing run, they were attacked by three German Me 109 fighters. A direct hit from a 20mm shell then caused catastrophic damage to the B-17. The crew attempted to reach the Russian border, but it soon became clear the aircraft would not stay airborne. Forced to parachute out over Poland, the men were reportedly strafed on the way down. Donald was first declared Missing in Action, and later the family received the heartbreaking news that he had not survived. The location of his remains was unknown.

Until recently.

One of the most impressive things about our military is that it never truly stops searching for those who were lost in service to their country. Decades after his death, Donald’s remains were found in Poland and identified through DNA testing. He is now home and laid to rest with full military honors, including a military escort to the airport.

By the age of just 21, Donald had earned a Purple Heart (some reports say two Purple Hearts), a Silver Star, an Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, a World War II Victory Medal, a Presidential Unit Citation with one Oak Leaf Cluster, an Army Good Conduct Medal, a European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with four Bronze Service Stars, an Honorable Service Lapel Button, and U.S. Army Air Force Gunner Wings.

It is difficult to fully comprehend what was asked of so many young men during World War II. At an age when most people are only beginning to discover who they are, boys barely out of high school crossed oceans to eventually climb into aluminum aircraft and into skies filled with flak, fire, and enemy fighters.

Yet even after all these years, they are not forgotten. Time may pass, generations may come and go, but sacrifice leaves an imprint that endures.

If anyone deserves to come home to a long-overdue rest, Donald Dorman does. After more than eighty years, after the terror of war, the chaos of combat, and time spent far from family and country he died serving, this brave airman is finally making his journey home. There is something profoundly moving about that. The young man who left home to fight in one of history’s darkest conflicts is at last being returned to the people and soil he once knew, not forgotten in some distant field, but honored, remembered, and carried home with dignity.

Donald was much loved and his death was a great loss to his mother, his grandmother, and his aunts and uncles.

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The tombstone of Dorman's mother and grandparents.