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On Memorial Day 

 

May 26, 2025

The Springfield community honored the life, service, and memory of its residents and our nation's service members who lost their lives in service to our country.  On Memorial Day 2025, we especially honored and remembered Second Lieutenant Donald S. Weightman, United States Army Air Forces who was killed in action on February 10, 1944.

Although the focus of this year's remembrance is on Donald Weightman, we will honor all who gave their life for our country.  We continue to keep them and their families in our thoughts and prayers.​

The community's 2025 remembrance consisted of three events:

​​​

  • 9:15 a.m.: Ceremony at the St. Francis of Assisi (SFA) Church WWII memorial, corner of Saxer Ave and Johnston Rd

  • Parade from SFA down Saxer Ave to Powell Rd, then to the municipal parking lot at Old Central School behind Wawa

  • 10:00 a.m.: Primary remembrance outside the Old Central School, Saxer Ave

SECOND LIEUTENANT

DONALD SHARP WEIGHTMAN

U.S. ARMY AIR FORCES

KILLED IN ACTION

FEBRUARY 10, 1944

Born October 17, 1918, Donald (Don) Weightman graduated from Springfield High School, Springfield Township (Delaware County), Pennsylvania in 1937. He was the youngest son of Franklin Atwood (Frank) Weightman and Mary (Molly) Lillian Sharp Weightman of 300 Ballymore Road and later, 258 North Rolling Road. Don had one brother, Melvin (Mel), who was three years his senior. 
At Springfield High School, he was a student leader, an athlete, and he was involved in many clubs and extracurricular activities.
Don served as his freshman class president, played football his freshman year, and basketball his sophomore year through his senior year. On the basketball court he was a "triple threat" playing center, forward, or guard. As a rising senior, his teammates elected him varsity team captain. 
Donald S. Weightman
Don Weightman, Springfield High School Class of 1937. The Scrivener, 1937
Springfield High School Varsity Basketball Team 1936-1937. The Scrivener, 1937.
1936-1937 Varsity Basketball Team. The Scrivener, 1937

Seated: R. Beatty, C. Schlosser, W. Bathgate, D. Weightman, D. Ganister, E. Carroll, R. Baldwin.

Standing: J. Nulty (Assistant Manager), N. Daltry (Assistant Manager), J. Ehlers, W. Colborn, Mr. W. Stetson (Coach), I. Hurley, J. Clark, R. Rocap (Manager), F. Shuman (Assistant Manager).

Senior Play "Square Crooks." The Scrivener, 1937
Don enjoyed acting. In April 1936, he was a cast member in the junior play "Second Childhood." During his senior year, in December 1936, he played the lead character Eddie Ellison in the comedy "Square Crooks."
Senior Play "Square Crooks" Cast. The Scrivener 1937

Seated: R. Sandford, S. Kirk, C. Owens, P. Taylor, D. Justison, H. Cope, R. Ransley. 

Standing: I. Hurley, J. Ehlers, D. Weightman, J. Moore.

He participated for four years on the staff of both the student newspaper, the Spri-Hian, and the yearbook, the Scrivener. A person who shared his creativeness and his ability to draw, his contribution to the Scrivener was on the art staff. Also a singer, he was a member of the school's glee club all four years of high school.
 
Spri-Hian Staff. The Scrivener, 1937
Spri-Hian Staff 1936-1937. The Scrivener 1937

Seated: H. Bornman, S. Burnet, C. Tyson, G. Jackson (Editor-in-Chief), H. Cope, M. Taber, E. Eachus. 

Standing: C. Seymour, R. Baldwin, D. Weightman, Miss E. Sanbe (Adviser), W. Thomas, D. Wass (Business Manager). 

The Scrivener Staff. The Scrivener, 1937
The Scrivener Staff 1936-1937. The Scrivener, 1937

Seated: B. Fielding, C. Strawley, A. Burnley, M. Taber, J. Moore, R. Ransley, S. Burnet (Editor-in-Chief), C. Seymour, G. Jackson, H. Cope.

Standing: Miss E. Haldeman (Adviser), B. Wood, S. Kirk, A. Reeps, K. Reynolds, C. Tyson, F. Schmidt, P. Taylor, W. Thomas, C. Owens, H. Bornman, M. Thomson, A. Mullan, R. Baldwin, D. Weightman.

Donald Weightman Illustration, The Scrivener 1935
Illustration by Don Weightman. The Scrivener, 1935
The 1937 Scrivener listed "pretty girls" as his weakness, "silly girls" as his abomination, and "aw, nuts!" as his expression. Not surprisingly, it listed basketball as his sport. Perhaps his senior portrait caption described Don best:
"Popular, gay, and friendly is he,
Where Don is, there we'd all like to be."
After graduation, Don attended Ursinus College in nearby Collegeville, Pennsylvania for one year. By 1940, according to the US census of that year, he worked in chemistry for an oil company, likely Sun Oil. He, his brother Mel, who attended Haverford College
and was working as an English teacher at a private school, his mother Molly, and his father Frank who was an accountant for an oil company, were all still living on Ballymore Road.

The escalating war in Europe would soon change the trajectory of Don's life. In the shadow of Nazi Germany’s sweep across Europe in 1940, to include the May and June invasion of France and the United Kingdom's evacuation from the shore of Dunkirk, Don enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard with four other Springfield youths: Irv Hurley, Bill Coborn, Norman Whitely, and Tom Saitterwaite.
2nd Lt. Donald S. Weightman, United States Amy Air Forces, 1943. Courtesy of Frank Weightman.
His unit was called to active-duty on January 13, 1941, approximately 11 months prior to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Earning the rank of Staff Sergeant within Pennsylvania’s 166th Field Artillery Regiment, his desire was to fight not from the ground but from the sky. Having met the age, health, academic, and aptitude requirements, Don became a United States Amy Air Forces (USAAF) aviation cadet.
On a train bound for New Orleans, Louisiana, on his way to aviation training in the vicinity of Tucson, Arizona, he met Norma Case, the daughter of Norma and Marion Case. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Norma grew-up in Atlanta, Georgia. 
Given the times, Don and Norma’s courtship was short and they soon married. In 1943, Don was commissioned a second lieutenant in the USAAF, earned his aviator wings, and was rated as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot.
December brought two significant events. Don was sent to England and, later, on a bitterly cold Christmas Day in Atlanta, in the midst of an ice storm, Norma gave birth to their son, Franklin (Frank) Case Weightman. 
In England, Don was assigned to the 96th Bomber Group, 339th Bomber Squadron, Heavy located at Royal Air Force (RAF)
2nd Lt. Donald and Norma Weightman, 1943. Courtesy of Frank Weightman.
Snetterton Heath (AAF Station 138), Norwich, United Kingdom. The other three squadrons in the 96th Group were the 337th, 338th, and 413th.
B17 crew 2nd Lt Donald Weightman_edited.jpg
B-17 Crew. 2nd Lt. Donald Weightman standing, far left. Courtesy of Frank Weightman
On February 10, 1944, serving as the co-pilot of B-17G #42-31566, he departed from RAF Snetterton Heath with nine other crewmembers on a bombing mission to the industrial area in the vicinity of Brunswick (Braunschweig), Germany. His Fortress was among an armada of 169 B-17s escorted by 64 P-38, P-51, and P-47 fighter aircraft. According to an account provided by the 96th Bomb Group Museum United Kingdom, on that day there were clear skies over Brunswick which provided for visual bombing. The clear conditions also brought “fountains” of accurate flak and approximately 150 enemy fighter aircraft. Although the bombers enjoyed fighter escorts all the way to the Brunswick targets, the Luftwaffe was successful in penetrating the bomber formations.  

Three of the 96th Bomber Group’s B-17s fell to German fighters or flak and failed to return to RAF Snetterton Heath. The first to go down was the 339th's 42-3167; all ten men bailed out and were captured. The second was the 413’s 42-31492, Discoveree. The Discoveree received flak just after releasing its bombs. One crewmember, Staff Sergeant Bob Honer of Los Angeles County, California was killed; the remaining nine crewmembers bailed out and they too were captured.

 

The third was Don Weightman’s 42-31566. After its bombing run, Don’s Fortress with its crew of 10 crashed for unknown reasons, presumably in the North Sea. Perhaps informed speculation, other sources list flak as the cause of damage. Initially listed as missing-in-action, Don and the rest of the crew were officially presumed dead on February 11, 1945. 

 

On that mission, in total, the crews of 29 B-17s and 9 fighters were lost. Another 53 B-17s and 8 fighters were damaged. The American bomber and fighter casualties, as initially reported, were 3 killed-in-action, 4 wounded, and 304 missing-in-action; many of those initially reported missing, like Don, were later declared killed. Those were the losses for just one bombing mission. The February 10, 1944 sacrifices to deny Germany its industrial capability is a reminder of the determination and commitment of our nation and of its Greatest Generation to win the war at any cost.

 

These nine airmen were Don’s fellow crewmembers who also perished on that mission:

S/Sgt Marlin J. Bruckman

Age 30-31

Detroit, Michigan

Left Waist Gunner


S/Sgt Earl T. Case

Age 19

Syracuse, New York

Right Waist Gunner


2nd Lt. Charles J. Flynn Jr.

Age 25

St. Louis, Missouri

Navigator


S/Sgt Russell E. Nelson

Age 20

Aroostook County, Maine 

Ball Turret Gunner


T/Sgt Edgar N. Orbell

Age 22

London, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada (enlisted in New York)

Radio Operator

T/Sgt Harry E. Rankin Jr.

Age 20

Massillon, Ohio

Top Turret Gunner


1st Lt. Harold S. Thompson

Age ~26

Swampscott, Massachusetts 

Pilot


2nd Lt. George J. Wachal

Age 24

Clintonville, Wisconsin

Bombardier


S/Sgt Dean I. Whitten

Age 20

New Berlin, New York

Tail Gunner

Don, his crewmates, and the others lost that day are memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England.
During his service, Don was awarded the Purple Heart and he earned the Air Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Military Medal, and the European-African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.
Although Don died at only 25, he lived in the hearts and memories of his Springfield friends, his parents Frank and Mary, and his wife Norma. 
Heavily in mourning, Norma settled in Chase City, Virginia. A few years after Don’s death, she met and married the local high school principal, Frank Chuchek, originally from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In December 1948, Norma and Frank had fraternal twin daughters, Jeanne and Joanne. Around 1958, Frank took a new high school principal position and the family moved to Sayre, Pennsylvania. They stayed in Pennsylvania for two years and then moved to Appomattox, Virginia. There, Frank became the county's high school principal. In addition to raising her three children, Norma was a founding member of the Appomattox County Chapter of the American Cancer Society and, for many years, she served as an administrative assistant and court recorder to a local judge.
Norma Case Chuckek (Weightman)
Norma Case Chuchek (Weightman). Courtesy of Frank Weightman
Frank Chuchek died in 1981 and Norma followed in 2011 at the age of 91. Although she and Frank were married for over three decades and made a life and raised a family together, the memory of Don was never far.
Personal loving memories of Don lasted a generation but his legacy lives on, now in three generations.
Raised by Norma and Frank, Don’s son Frank went on to have a full, fulfilling life raising a family, teaching, and helping people achieve financial independence.

During his senior year at Appomattox, Frank, like Don, played football and basketball; he also sang in his church's choir. After high school he earned his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in English Literature from Emory and Henry College, Virginia and East Tennessee State University respectively.
Frank and Jane Weighman Wedding
Jane and Frank Weightman. Courtesy of Frank Weightman
In 1972, he married Jane Virgalitto, then a high school teacher in Ohio. Together, Frank and Jane had a daughter, Elizabeth, and they both pursued successful careers - Jane’s in academia, Frank’s in academia and then financial services.
Frank earned his Ph.D. in Literature of English Renaissance from University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He then taught English Literature as an associate professor at Memphis State University until 1987.

That year, Frank shifted his career from academia to financial services. Working in a variety of roles
and companies, by 2004, he joined Radian Partners in Memphis then Franklin, Tennessee as a senior partner with the purpose of fostering financial literacy and providing financial advice.
Jane would go on to serve as a teacher and professor for 30 years with her final position teaching English to nursing students at Union University at its satellite campus in Memphis, Tennessee.
Frank and Jane Weightman
Frank and Jane Weightman. Courtesy of Frank Weightman
Solomon Family
L-R, Jackson, David, Elizabeth, and Cooper Solomon. Courtesy of Frank Weightman
Their daughter, and Don and Norma’s granddaughter, Elizabeth graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and then married David Solomon, a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, in 2001. Residing in Huber Heights, Ohio, Elizabeth works with special needs children at a local school while David works as the Air Force Science and Technology portfolio director at an advanced technology defense products company. David is also a colonel specializing in acquisition program management in the US Air Force Reserve. Together, Elizabeth and David have two sons: Jackson, an undergraduate at the Ohio State University, and Cooper, who attends high school in Huber Heights.
Col. David Solomon Promotion
L-R: Sydney Virgallito, Frank Weightman, Elizabeth Solomon, Jackson Solomon, Cooper Solomon, Paul Virgallito, Sherry Virgallito, David Solomon. Courtesy of Frank Weightman
Upon his retirement in 2019, Frank and Jane moved to Ohio to be closer to their daughter and her family. Sadly, after 49 ½ years of marriage, Jane passed away in February 2022. Today, Frank’s partner is Ramona Anderson, originally from Lexington, Kentucky. Retired, Ramona spent a 30+ year career in education teaching and then, in the final years, as a coach for first year educators. Frank and Ramona live in Springboro, Ohio.
Jane and Frank Weightman.jpeg
Ramona Anderson and Frank Weightman. Courtesy of Frank Weightman.
81 years after Don’s life was cut short with so many young Americans on the bombing mission to Brunswick, his continuing legacy is Frank, Elizabeth, Jackson, and Cooper. The varsity basketball team captain, the popular kid that made his classmates laugh as the lead character in ‘Square Crooks,’ the student newspaper and yearbook artist, the glee club singer, the Ursinus College undergrad, and, when his nation called, the Army staff sergeant then second lieutenant who co-piloted a fateful B-17 Flying Fortress over Germany on a cold but clear day in February 1944, lives on today.
Lest we forget
Donald Weightman Hero Banner, Installed 5/23/2023, Woodland Ave, in front of E.T.Richardson School, Springfield, PA. Courtesy of William Smeck

Sources: 

 

  1. Phone discussions and text messages between Richard Debany and by Frank C. Weightman, April and May, 2025.

  2. Springfield High School 1935 & 1937 Scrivener located at: https://www.saef.net/site-map, accessed May 10, 2025.

  3. 1940 United States Census, 1940 Census Records | National Archives, and 1940 census - MyHeritage, accessed May 21, 2025; excerpt for Ballymore Road, Springfield Township, PA located here (see lines 6-9).

  4. Norma Case Chuchek obituary located at: https://www.robinsonfuneral.com/guestbook/1122434, accessed May 10, 2025.

  5. Honor States located at: https://www.honorstates.org/profiles/339674/, accessed May 10, 2025.

  6. Find a Grave located at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56295423/donald-sharpe-weightman, accessed May 10, 2025.

  7. Traces of War located at https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/21826/Memorial-96th-Bomb-Group-USAAF.htm, accessed May 10, 2025.

  8. b17flyingfortress.de at https://b17flyingfortress.de/en/b17/42-31566/, accessed May 10, 2025.

  9. The American Air Museum, IWM Duxford, England located at: https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/person/donald-s-weightman, accessed May 10, 2025.

  10. The Army Air Cops Library and Museum located at: https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/missing-aircrew-reports/macr-02375-42-31566.cfm, accessed May 10, 2025.

  11. Webpage Titled, February 10, 1944, 20th victory located at: http://franckruffino.chez.com/My-Site/Victory_20.htm, accessed May 10, 2025.

  12. 96th Bomb Group Museum UK's Facebook post, February 10, 2024 located at: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=365939919527863&id=100083355728361 accessed May 10, 2025

  13. Wikipedia, RAF Snetterton Heath, located at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Snetterton_Heath, accessed May 10, 2025.

  14. Jane Weightman obituary located at: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dayton/name/jane-weightman-obituary?id=33535757, accessed May 10, 2025.

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