Aaron E Mickelson

COMPLETES COURSE
Corporal Aaron E. Mickelson, son of Mrs. Ed E. Mickelson, 1215 Menomonie Street, recently completed an orientation course at an Air Service Command Station in the European Theater of War. His next station will be one from which fighting planes depart on missions over enemy territory. Corporal Mickelson graduated from the State Teachers College here in February 1943.

Reported Missing on Bombing Raid Over Germany

SGT. AARON E. MICKELSON
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Mickelson, 415 Menomonie Street, have been notified by the War Department that their son, Sergeant Aaron E. Mickelson, 23, has been missing in action over Germany since November 26. He was a member of the crew of a Flying Fortress.

Sergeant Aaron E. Mickelson entered the service in February 1942 and received training in the Army Air Forces at fields in Texas and Nebraska.

He went overseas about September 1 and was stationed at an air base in England.

Gunner, Reported Missing, Prisoner of the Germans

SGT. AARON E. MICKELSON
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Mickelson, 1215 Menomonie Street, received a telegram from the War Department, Tuesday, informing them that their son, Sergeant Aaron Mickelson, is a prisoner of the Germans.

Sergeant Mickelson, a gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress, was reported missing over Germany on November 26, and this is the first word of his fate his parents received since then. His plane was based in England and was on a bombing mission.

He entered service in February 1942 and received training in the Army Air Forces at fields in Texas and Nebraska, before going overseas to an air base in England on September 7.

Fortress Gunner Is Liberated from Nazi Prison Camp

SGT. AARON MICKELSON
Sergeant Aaron E. Mickelson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Mickelson, 1215 Menomonie Street, has been liberated from a Nazi prison camp on April 30 and is now at Camp Lucky Strike, France, according to two letters received from him by his parents.

He is now waiting for orders to come home. He writes that he has been living from Red Cross boxes for the past six months.

While a gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress, he was reported missing over Germany on November 26, 1944, while on a bombing mission. He was reported to be a German prisoner on February 14, last.

He entered the service in February 1942 and received training in the Army Air Forces at fields in Texas and Nebraska, before going overseas to an air base in England on September 7, 1944.

AARON E. MICKELSON
Prisoners of War, Europe 1944
Although most Chippewa Valley recruits were sent to the South Pacific in the early years of the war, by 1944, the European Theater was a more common destination. For many, living and combat conditions were somewhat better than they had been in the early years in the tropics. But even if their treatment was humane, prisoners suffered from lack of food and medical attention.

An Eau Claire man, Aaron E. Mickelson, who lived at 1215 Menomonie Street, survived the war as a prisoner in Germany.

He entered the Air Force in February 1943 and was promoted to Staff Sergeant after attending Armorer Gunnery School at Lowry Field, Colorado. After training in the States, he was sent to Framlingham, England in 1944 and assigned to the 390th Bombardment Group.

He was shot down over Hamm, Germany on his 13th mission. He and his crew survived the crash but found themselves in the hands of the Germans. They were sent to Prison Camp No. 26 at Kiefiede. The Germans moved him often; Mickelson spent time interred at Stalag No. 3 and No. 4 before being liberated on May 7, 1945.