Veterans' Memorial Project
Richard Henry Schroeppel
Urbana, IL
World War II
First Lt. Schroeppel served with the 78th (“Bushmaster”) Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group, a unit of the 7th Air Force that was stationed in the Pacific Theater and flew combat missions over Hawaii, the Central Pacific Ocean, and finally–by the war’s end–over Japan. His P-51D Mustang fighter plane was struck by anti-aircraft fire while on a strafing mission to the Island of Chichi Jima on July 3, 1945. Lt. Schroeppel managed to parachute successfully from his damaged plane and land uninjured on the coast of that island. Tragically, despite a valiant and sustained effort to rescue him conducted by both his fellow pilots and air-sea rescue units–and in spite of his own courage and resourcefulness–Lt. Schroeppel was killed when the air-sea rescue lifeboat (dropped to him by parachute from a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber) in which he hoped to reach safety, was hit by enemy fire. His body was never recovered. He is listed as Missing in Action or Buried at Sea on the Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii. He earned the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and Purple Heart.
-submitted by Michael G. Moskow of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, who is an amateur historian conducting research about American servicemen in World War II; information also used from Web site above and University of Illinois records
Further information: https://www.abmc.gov
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