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Douglas J. Quale

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Douglas J. Quale

The following February 11, 1943, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 4 column 4:
    Douglas Qualey was a guest at the home of the Paul Cottinghams last week. He is leaving for army duty soon.

Note that Douglas Quale's last name was misspelled in this article.

The following June 29, 1944, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 1, column 2:

    MARION O'DONNELL AND LT. DOUGLAS QUALE MARRIED

    Miss Marion O'Donnell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Singleton of Lowell, became the bride of Lt. Douglas Quale, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Quale of Elk Mound, Wis., at an impressive ceremony at the Lowell Church of the Nazarene, on June 14th. Rev. Charles D. Ide, pastor of the local church, officiated.

    The bride wore a trailing white net gown over taffeta, with fingertip veil, and carried white carnations. Her sister, Mrs. Alvin Quale, was matron-of-honor. She wore an aqua net over taffeta, with a corsage of talisman roses. Bridesmaids were Mrs. Frank Leach and Miss Neva Leach.

    The bridegroom was attired in his U.S. Air Corps uniform. His attendant was David Jones. Ushers were John Joplin and Merritt Coffin, pianist, Miss Marjorie Singleton, and prayer-pillow bearers were Jimmie and Shirley Singleton. Mrs. Charles Ide sang "I Love You Truly."

    A reception for sixty relatives and friends followed the services, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Singleton.

    Following a short honeymoon at the home of his parents in Wisconsin, Mr. and Mrs. Quale will go to the base of the 2nd air force, at Lincoln, Nebr.

This Lowell Tribune article was found in the March 8, 1945, issue (page 1, column 6):

    LT. DOUGLAS QUALE MISSING IN ACTION ON ITALIAN MISSION

WAR DEPT. NOTIFIES WIFE THAT HIS PLANE HAS BEEN UNREPORTED SINCE FEB. 15

    Mrs. Douglas Quale, the former Marion O'Donnell, daughter of Mrs. Floyd Singleton of Lowell, received official notification from the war department last Saturday that her husband, Lt. Douglas J. Quale had been missing in action over Italy since Feb. 15th.
    Lt. Quale, 22, a bombardier on a B-17, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Quale, Sr., of Eau Claire, Wis., and had been a resident of Lowell for about a year prior to entering the service on Feb. 12, 1943. He attended high school at Chippewa Falls, Wis., before coming here. He was married to Miss O'Donnell June 14th, 1944, just four days after receiving his lieutenant commission at the army air base at Big Springs, Texas. He went overseas last October.
    Lt. Quale is the eighth Lowell boy reported missing in action since the start of the conflict.
    Surviving in addition to his wife and parents, are two brothers, Cpl. Alvin Quale, who also lived here prior to entering service, now stationed in India, and Charles (Bud) Quale, Jr., who is employed at the Harding Caterpillar Sales here.
This May 31, 1945, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 2, column 1:
    Mrs. Douglas Quale, the former Marion O'Donnell, daughter of Mrs. Floyd Singleton, Lowell, has received word that her husband has been released from a Nazi prison camp in Austria.
    Lt. Quale, 22, bombardier on a B-17, stationed in Italy, was reported missing in action over Austria on Feb. 15, 1945, but was later reported a prisoner of the Germans. He was released by invading American forces around May 1st.
This June 14, 1945, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 1, column 5:

    LIEUT. DOUGLAS QUALE, LIBERATED WAR PRISONER, TO SPEAK HERE SUNDAY

    Public Is Invited to Hear Story of His Experiences at Church of the Nazarene at 7:30

    Lt. Douglas Quale, liberated from a German prison camp last month, will relate some of his experiences Sunday evening at the Lowell Church of the Nazarene.
    Lt. Quale, who entered the service in Feb., 1943, was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant last June, and promoted to 1st Lierutenant while overseas as a bombardier. Just four days after being made a 2nd Lt. he was married to Miss Marion O'Donnel, daughter of Mrs. Floyd Singleton, Lowell, who accompanied her husband south, remaining there until October, when Lt. Quale sailed for the European front.
    Lt. Quale had completed many missions without serious mishaps up and until his ship failed to return in February after a bombing raid over Vienna, Austria. Little hope had been held forth by his flight commander who had written that Lt. Quale's plane was losing altitude very fast when last sighted and that no parachutes had been seen. No word had been received of his welfare until last month when his name was listed in Chicago papers as having been liberated from a German prison camp. Few details are known except that he had remained a prisoner of war, incarcerated in the Mooselberg prison camp.
    The general public is cordially invited to the Church of the Nazarene Sunday evening to hear Lt. Quale tell some of his most exciting experiences.
This June 21, 1945, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 1, column 5:

    LT. DOUGLAS QUALE SPEAKS AT CHURCH OF NAZARENE

    It was an attentive crowd that filled the Nazarene church to hear Lt. Douglas Quale relate his experiences in a German prison camp, and how his plane was destroyed over Vienna, Austria.
    Late in February, Lt. Quale, flight commander, was leading his squadron to their target over Vienna, when he discovered that the squadron ahead of his was late and one plane was missing. As he looked about trying to spot the missing plane he suddenly spied it a few hundred yards above his ship, and at the same time discovered that the stray ship was releasing its load of bombs which were hurtling directly across the path of his ship. Before Lt. Quale was able to reach the phone to warn his pilot, a five-hundred pound bomb had already hit one of the wings of their plane and then another such bomb struck in the radio control room. This of course, had completely paralyzed the plane and it began zooming toward the ground from appoximately 30,000 feet. Lt. Quale, having had some premonition of danger on this mission had snapped his parachute to his flying suit on one side, but as the plane started its dizzy ascent he found himself a prisoner in the nose of the plane with no way to free himself. After the plane had fallen several thousand feet and Lt. Quale had resigned himself to the fate that seemed inevitable, somehow the nose of the ship seemed to break apart suddenly and he found himself hurtling to earth.
    As soon as he found he was free from the ship he pulled the rip cord to release his parachite, but much to his consternation it just didn't open. He reached for it again and jerked with greater force this time, but still nothing happened. Lt. Quale remarked as he told this experience that he was wondering if after all he was going to be alive when he met mother earth again, but now desperate, gave another jerk, and to his joy a great white sheet opened above him, that let him drift down through the clouds. As he came down a battery of flack guns ceased firing and remained so until he arrived on the ground. On the way down he said that he watched almost every part of the plane fall past him. Three other crew members were able to free themselves from the plane and they also, were captured by the enemy flack gun crew.
    As a prisoner, Lt. Quale found soup being a part of the diet, and the food not very vitalizing; weed black bread that seemed to explde when first chewed on, was an every day item on the menu. Food was a very scarce item, and he told of the American prisoners serching the garbage for anything that might prove edible, salvaging pieces of potato so small they had to be eaten on the end of a toothpick. Red Cross packages arrived intermittently and these proved a blessing and a life-saver for the prisoners.
    Religious services were conducted inside the prison camp which held 30,000 men, and Lt. Quale said that these proved a great source of encouragement to the soldiers.
    Patton's 3rd army were the first to reach these prisoners, and a great deal of shouting emitted from these half starved, but happy American boys when they realized they would soon be free to go home again. Lt. Quale stated that every courtesy was afforded these boys that could be afforded, as they were cared for, and nursed as they were taken back to a point of embarkation, from where they sailed back to good old America.
    Lt. Quale seemed choked at times when he related how God had protected him, and many of the boys, and was not reluctant to tell that the thought of those at home praying for him had been a great source of encouragement, and in his final words urged everyone to pray.
    It was a most attentive crowd that listened as Lt. Quale very humbly related his experiences and close calls with death.
This October 11, 1945, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 2, column 1:
    San Antonio District, AAFPDC -- 1st Lt. Douglas J. Quale, of Lowell, Indiana, who served nine months in the European theater of operations as a bombardier has arrived at the San Antonio District, AAF Personnel Distribution Command.
    He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Quale, Elkmound, Wisconsin, and husband of Mrs. Marian W. Quale, Lowell, Indiana.
    Lt. Quale wears the Air Medal, Purple Heart, and the European Theater Campaign Ribbon with two battle stars. He was recently liberated from a prisoner of war camp.
    He will spend approximately two weeks at the redistribution station undergoing records and physical processing in preparation for a discharge or reassignment to duty in this country.
    During his stay here, this combat veteran who was assigned to San Antonio upon completion of a 30-day leave at his home, will be duty-free and have at his command all of the many recreational and educational facilities made available to returned airmen by the Personnel Distribution Command.
Last updated on September 29, 2004.

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