North American P-51D Mustang [@ RAF Hendon]

This aircraft, "The Duck", is a beautiful restoration of a Mustang in the markings of Capt. Emerson. Donald Emerson was from North Dakota and had chosen military service over farming. In England, he was assigned to the Eighth Air Force's elite Fourth Fighter Group on March 9 1944. This premier fighting unit had been formed around the earlier "Eagle Squadrons" of American pilots who voluntarily fought with the British before the U.S. entered the war.

On Christmas Day, 1944, while flying another P-51 during the Battle of the Bulge, he was heading back to his base after a mission when he encountered six enemy planes. He managed to shoot down two of them, but as he crossed enemy lines flying close to the ground, he was struck by flak from anti-aircraft guns. His plane crashed in British-occupied territory in Belgium; it is believed that he died before his plane landed. He was buried the next day in a temporary military cemetery near Margraten, Holland, where his body is now permanently interred in the American Military Cemetery.

Capt. Donald R. Emerson earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal, with additional clusters awarded to both, and posthumously, the Purple Heart. He was 21.