Submitted by: Dan Rich

Louis A. Yanez

Jan. 6, 1923 - Dec. 6, 2008

South Bend Tribune 12/21/2008
SOUTH BEND - Louis A. Yanez, 85, passed away on Saturday, December 6, 2008, in Regency Place, South Bend. He was born on January 6, 1923, to the late Joseph and Virginia (Calderon) Yanez. He was also preceded in death by his brothers, Joseph Romeo and Frank. He is survived by his daughter, Linda (Charles) Henry; and granddaughter, Shelby. Also surviving are his sister, Virginia Leonhard; nieces and nephew, Denise (Brian) Craft, Romeo (Kathy) Yanez, Jimmy (Terry) Richards, Alicia (David) McMurtie, Dale (Paula) Leonhard, Felice (Gary) Moberg, Roger (Peggy) Leonhard and Nina (Marty) Lightner. Shortly after birth, in Topeka, Kansas, the Yanez family moved to South Bend. Louis graduated from South Bend's Riley High School. In 1941 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and trained as a B-17 engineer and ball turret gunner. On May 10, 1944, his B-17, "El Kobar," was shot down after bombing Winer-Neustadt. The crew survived and was captured in the town of Otterthal, Austria. Yanez spent 17 months in Stalag Luft 4. In February 1945, he was one of 8,000 prisoners force-marched 600 miles across Poland and Germany. Following repatriation, he married Lucille Danielowicz, also of South Bend, and became a sheet metal worker. He was part of the crew that gilded the Notre Dame Golden Dome. He was an avid fisherman and longtime member of the P.N.A. Fisherman's Club. In 2004 the mayor of Otterthal contacted Yanez to invite him and his surviving crewmates to Austria. The town wished to give them the proper welcome they did not receive in 1944. Unfortunately, none of the crew could undertake the trip. The mayor then hiked up a mountain to the B-17 crash site, retrieved some remnants of the aircraft and sent them to Yanez.