Dean Joseph Yates was born November 22, 1920 in Mona, Juab County, Utah.

His parents, John B. Yates and Hortense Gibbons, were born and married in Utah, Three of their children lived to adulthood, Dean had two brothers, one of whom also served in WWII. Dean attended Juab High School in Nephi and farmed before he was drafted.

Dean was induced into the Army Air Corp on August 5, 1942 at Fort Douglas, Utah. He received basic and specialized training at bases in Missouri, Nevada, Iowa and South Dakota.

When Staff Sgt. Yates went overseas it was to serve as a B-17 tail gunner with the 525th Bomb Squadron, 379th Bomb Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force stationed in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, England. He was Wounded in Action in June 1943, and sent back to active duty in July.

On August 17, 1943 his aircraft (42-298306) was on a mission to Schweinfurt, Germany, when it was shot down by enemy aircraft, and crashed near Dorrebach, Germany. No search was possible in enemy territory. SSgt Dean J. Yates was listed as Missing in Action and confirmed KIA in November 1943.

He was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf cluster (second posthumously). He is buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold, France.

References:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56662599/dean-j-yates

Missing Air Crew Report for aircraft 42-298306 https://www.fold3.com/image/28693499

Missing - Times-News (Nephi, UT) 2 Sep 1943, p 1

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Dean J Yates