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Personal info

Full name
CONWAY, Jack Holt
Date of birth
21 November 1921
Age
23
Place of birth
Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota
Hometown
Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota

Military service

Service number
O-553897
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Radar Observer
Unit
422nd Night Fighter Squadron
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
2 December 1944
Place of death
Buschdorf, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
H 13 4

Immediate family

Members
James H. Conway (father)
Elizabeth M. (Holt) Conway (mother)
Eileen B. Conway (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-5589
Data
Type: P-61A
Destination: Düren to Prüm, Germany
Mission: Defensive patrol
MACR: 10824

More information

2nd Lt Jack H. Conway was graduated from Central High School and attended the University of Southern California.

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 3 July 1942.

During the first hour of the patrol there was no activity and the pilot then asked the controller over the radio if he wanted him to go down to look for some ground targets. The controller informed him that it was up to him. After ten minutes of radio silence the controller tried to contact the pilot but there was no response.

According to German records, the airplane flew against a cement mast during a strafing assault on a train.

Both crew members were killed. They were initially buried at the cemetery of Buschdorf, Germany on 4 December 1944.

His remains were evacuated to Margraten and buried in a temporary grave on 13 March 1946. He was given his final resting place on 25 January 1949.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.fold3.com, www.ancestry.com - 1930 Census, www.newspapers.com - Star Tribune, IDPF

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, www.newspapers.com - Star Tribune, U.S. School Yearbooks