Capt. Darrell R. Lindsey

Lindsey’s last mission to be commemorated

Seventy years ago Saturday, a 24-year-old Jefferson man was at the yoke of a doomed B-26 Marauder over Nazi-occupied France.

Its right wing on fire, he muscled the plane back into the formation’s lead position in time to drop bombs on the railroad bridge spanning the Seine that served as Germany’s last lifeline to Paris.

He then gave the order for his six crewmen to bail out.

Capt. Darrell R. Lindsey went down with his plane.

It was his 46th mission during World War II.

For his actions that day — Aug. 9, 1944 — Lindsey was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor in combat.

At 5:15 p.m. today, Jefferson’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9599 will commemorate the 70th anniversary of Lindsey’s last mission by placing a wreath at his monument on the Greene County Courthouse lawn.

Lindsey is one of just 3,490 Americans to have received the Medal of Honor since 1863.

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Jefferson, IA 50129

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