Memorial

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Sgt Joseph H Booker Jr. completed 3 years of high school. He was employed at Thom McAn Shoe Store.

Eyewitness statement from William G. Kirkendall, S/Sergeant, ASN 33487396:
I, was an eye witness of #42-52087, piloted by Captain Francis L. Fort, when it crashed enroute to Wiener Neudorf, Austria.

Captain Fort's plane was flying in my flight and about 0950 I saw a sheet of flame in the #3 engine. My plane was in front of Captain Fort's plane and his ship peeled off and went about 1000 yards from the formation. The flame in the engine appeared to be extinguished and the plane banked as if to rejoin the formation, and then it went into a very close spin. It dropped below the haze and for a moment I lost sight of it. A few seconds later though I saw an explosion as if it had exploded when it hit. I did not see anyone leave the plane by parachute and doubt if any was able to due to the tightness of the spin and the speed the plane was falling. There is a possibility that some of the crew may have bailed out during the short time I lost sight of the plane in the haze.