Donald Haines was one of the peripheral characters in the “Our Gang/Little Rascals” series. Some of his most memorable appearances (IMO) were:
[“Shivering Shakespeare”](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0021366/) (1930) He plays a Roman soldier whose visor keeps dropping down on his face.
[“Big Ears" (1931)](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0021658/) He tells Wheezer that a “benorse” (divorce) means that “dad is giving mom the air.”
[“Choo-Choo" (1932)](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0022761/ ) He leads the band of orphans who switch places with the gang aboard the train. He really sells them on the idea of an orphanage when he tells them about all the great food they’ll get.
[“A Lad an’ a Lamp" (1932)](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0023107/) He plays a bully called “Toughie,” who takes the kids’ watermelon, saying “Well bring it over here, and I’ll eat it for you.”
There’s little information about him other than he “died or went missing in World War II.” OK. I’ve seen various references to him with a generic date of death of 1941. Since the US didn’t even enter the war until December, and we didn’t have much in the way of combat until 1942, that seems an unlikely year unless he died at Pearl Harbor (or in some military accident, as would later happen to Wheezer).
So, the question: If anyone has any kind of access to military records, what do the records say? Do they have information on where he might have been stationed or a “last known deployment?”
You can try contacting the National Archive’s National Personnel Records Center. Unfortunately, the majority of personnel service records from that period were destroyed in a fire in 1973.
The All Movie Guide lists a birth year of 1921 and death year of 1942.
The National Archives has a file of all the Army enlistments between 1938 and 1946 (which includes the Army Air Force). This wouldn’t include the Navy or Marines. They list a total of 16 Donald Haines, this one looks like it could be the one you’re looking for:
So he enlisted just three days after Pearl Harbor. if it’s him, I’d agree that it’s pretty unlikely that he’d have died in '41. It would be at least a few months from the time he’d enter the Air Corp and get through training and be sent overseas. I’d guess the dates on imdb are incorrect. If he really did die in 1941 it could have been in a training accident, or maybe even something not directly related to the military at all. The All Movie Guide bio is credited to Hal Erickson, who appears to be the author of several movie/TV related books, by looking at Amazon. Perhaps contacting him will provide some hints on where to go for more info?
FWIW, I think “Aviation Cadet” means he would’ve been train as a pilot or crew member of an aircraft, rather than a member of a groundcrew, etc.
flurb is correct that the NPRC would have his personnel file (if it wasn’t destroyed in the fire). Info on hot to get a copy can be found here. You won’t get as much info as his next of kin would. And be prepared for a couple month wait to get a response to your request.
Maxwell Air Force Base is where they keep a lot of the Army Air Corp records like MACRs (Missing Air Crew Reports) unit histories, unit monthly reports etc. They have a contact page here. If give them what info you know they’ll be able to see what info they might have. With his name and serial number there’s a chance they may be able to track something down. They were helpful when I was looking for information on my grandmothers brother, who died during WW II.
Hopefully they can identify at least what unit he served with and from there you can try the memorial group for the particular unit. Also take a look at www.armyairforces.com. There’s tons of info, and the forum is very helpful. There are people there who should be able to point you in the right direction.
Notice that that link shows a different serial number. As I understand it, service men would get a different number when they became officers. I have no idea why, but suspect it was just to confuse people. The one from don’t ask’s site would be the one to use because it would’ve been the final one (and the one he had when he was killed).
He’s also listed on the WW II Memorial site, but it doesn’t have any more info than we already have found elsewhere.
Both Variety and The Los Angeles Times are likely to have obituaries of Haines. The Variety obituaries have been collected into a series of reference books (Variety Obituaries) that many larger libraries have (I can check for you if you can’t find a set). The Los Angeles Times is available online, and completely searchable from 1885 onward, at ProQuest Historical Newspapers, although many libraries that have ProQuest don’t have that particular newspaper (or if they do, only from 1985 to the present). I know SamClem has access to it.
Bringing this one back from the dead (so to speak) because I stumbled onto some answers to the OP. It turns out we weren’t the only ones curious about the fate of Donald Haines:
They didn’t nail down every detail, but Haines was a fighter pilot and was killed in North Africa February 20, 1943. He’s buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery in California: