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Personal info

Full name
VEAZEY, James Marion
Date of birth
5 May 1918
Age
25
Place of birth
Monroeville, Monroe County, Alabama
Hometown
Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia

Military service

Service number
O-798617
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Pilot
Unit
32nd Bombardment Squadron,
301st Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
2 November 1943
Place of death
In the vicinity of Mönichkirchen, 40 km southwest of Wiener Neustadt, Austria

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
C 2 35

Immediate family

Members
George M. Veazey (father)
Mamie E. Veazey (mother)
George H. Veazey (brother)
Ernestine Veazey (sister)
Mary J. Veazey (wife)
James M. Veazey Jr. (son)

Plane data

Serial number
42-3391
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Georgia Peach
Destination: Wiener Neustadt, Austria
Mission: Bombing of the Messerschmitt aircraft factory
MACR: 1092

More information

1st Lt James M. Veazey attended the University of Alabama. He was employed by the Atlanta Ordnance Depot.

He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in Fulton, Georgia on 13 March 1942.

Statement of Sgt Harold K. Ream: "Enemy fighters came in attacking A/C 42-3391 in group of threes and set the #3 engine on fire. This happened on their first pass and A/C 42-3391 peeled off to the left and fell behind. Fighters jumped him again and he started going down in a long flat spin with his engine still on fire."
2n Lt John E. Isbell was together with 2nd Lt Willis R. Moon, Co-Pilot, and 1st Lt Ormond F Fochtman, Navigator at the escape hatch. According to 1st Lt Fochtman he was uninjured at that time. 2nd Lt Moon bailed out. At that moment 2nd Lt Isbell was still preparing to bail out when the plane exploded. 1st Lt Fochtman was blown clear of the plane en was very badly injured but survived, 2nd Lt Isbell however did not make it.

A French prisoner of war, Mr. Capioux, who had an operation in the same hospital as had Radio Operator, S/Sgt Perry Damsky, and the Navigator, 1st Lt Ormond F. Fochtman, at Neunkirchen, Austria was subsequently discharged and put to work as a gravedigger. This Frenchman aided in the burial of the four men that were killed in action.

Mr. Capioux brought the names from their dog tags to Lt Fochtman. All four of them were buried in one grave at the cemetry of Mönichkirchen, Austria.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.usaafdata.com, www.ancestry.com - 1920/1930/1940 Census / Veazey Family Tree, www.fold3.com - MACR / Individual Casualty Questionnaires / Statements, www.newspapers.com

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.findagrave.com