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Personal info

Full name
KEMP, Edward Knowlton
Date of birth
23 October 1913
Age
30
Place of birth
Illinois
Hometown
Wenona, Marshall County, Illinois

Military service

Service number
O-329382
Rank
Major
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
Headquarters,
453rd Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
24 June 1944
Place of death
Wulpen, Coxyde, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
O 21 9

Immediate family

Members
Walter Kemp (father)
Alma Kemp (mother)
Mayer Kemp (brother)
Charles W. Kemp (brother)
Marjorie L. Kemp (sister)
Sybil (Herring) Kemp (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-95233
Data
Type: B-24H
Destination: Pont-au-Vendin, France
Mission: Bombing of the industrial area
MACR: 6233

More information

After finishing high school in his home town of, he went to Michigan State University with very little money but plenty of desire to win a degree in business adminstration. It was here that he first came into contact with service life as a cadet in the Reserve Officers Training Corps of the ollege. Before graduation he had risen to the rank of cadet-colonel in the corps. Four years of slinging hash and working in clothing stores to earn expenses, with time out for studying, playing basketball and being a member of the Delta Chi fraternity, netted Kemp to a commission in the Reserve Corps of the army and his degree in business administration.

He launched into a business career as a manager for a branch store of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Chicago. He left this after three years in 1938 armed with an appointment as a cadet in the flying corps and went to San Antonio's Randolph Field. But before he could settle back into a military routine, he was bounced into civilian life by failure to pass a physical examination. The emergency gave him his chance for real army life when he was called up for active duty as an infantry officer. He was later transferred to the Air Corps.

Major Kemp was already commanding officer of HQ & HQ Squadron at Sheppard Field, Texas in 1941.

The aircraft hit by flak and blew up while crossing the coast over Coxyde, Belgium.

One crew member survived and was taken prisoner. Nine men were killed. They were initially buried at the English Military Cemetery of Coxyde, Belgium.

Source of information: André Koch, Raf Dyckmans, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com - MACR 6233
http://www.8thafhs.com, www.ancestry.com - 1920/1930 Census, www.myheritage.nl - Sheppard Field Texacts / Wichita Daily Times (Texas)

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, www.ancestry.com - Michigan State University Yearbook 1935, www.myheritage.nl - Wichita Daily Times (Texas)