Mylan was born in Steel County, Minnesota May 13, 1918 to Frank and Hansena Mayland Zwiener. There were five children in the family. Mylan was the second born with three sisters and one brother. His father was born in Germany and was a fur trapper by trade. His mother was born in Iowa but her parents came from Denmark. His mother Hansena Mayland was a sister to my husband's grandmother Emma Mayland Peterson.

He had enlisted in the Army Air Forces in October 1942 and left Blooming Prairie with a contigent of other soldiers also leaving for the war. He served during World War II. He had the rank of Staff Sergeant. Occupation or specialty was Left Waist Gunner. Service number was 37272407. Served with 95th Bomber Group, Heavy, 335th Bomber Squadron. Mylan was the first war death for the small town of Blooming Prairie.

Zwiener experienced a critical situation which resulted in loss of life on June 13, 1943 when his plane crashed after being hit by enemy fire over Kiel, Germany. On this mission a great deal of enemy opposition was encountered (over 100 enemy aircraft) causing 10 aircraft of his unit to be lost. He was reported helping others to get out of the aircraft but was not seen again as others parachuted out. He was reported as MIA until June 23, 1943.

Mylan F Zwiener is buried at Plot B Row 19 Grave 3, Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupre, Belgium. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.

COMMENDATIONS

★ Air Medal

June 13, 1943 the crew of the B-17F #42-29827 was shot Down over Germany by enemy aircraft, they crashed at Bredstedt, near Silzen, 15 miles W of Neumunster, Germany. Missing Air Crew Report 4901. Crew of 10. Six were killed in action and four were taken as POW's.

Pilot: Kenneth C. Mason, KIA https://www.fold3.com/page/638439592-kenneth-c-mason/stories

Co-pilot: Marvin Wagner, KIA https://www.fold3.com/page/529853085-marvin-l-wagner/stories

Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Thomas Healey, KIA https://www.fold3.com/page/85513331-thomas-f-healey/stories

Ball turret gunner: William Maylor, KIA https://www.fold3.com/page/529860263-william-g-maylor/stories

Waist gunner: Mylan Zweiner, KIA https://www.fold3.com/page/529860128-mylan-f-zwiener/stories

Tail gunner: Daniel McInnis https://www.fold3.com/page/638833208-daniel-h-mcinnis/stories

Prisoners of War:

Navigator: Glenn Fedderson, POW

Bombardier: Ed Laskey, POW

Radio Operator: Woodrow Runyon, POW

Waist gunner: Ed Weisenberg POW

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project https://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.