Memorial

More information

John Kelliher attended college and was a clerk.

He enlisted in Chicago, Illinois on 4 June 1942.

At 14.40 in the vicinity of Diksmuide, Belgium, the airplane took a direct hit from the guns of the Fw 190 of Unteroffizier Erich Scheyda of 3./JG26.

All ten crew members were killed when the plane blew up in the air.

A German salvage crew arrived at the crash scene at Pollinkhove and could identifiy the pilot, Lt. Conrad Hilbinger, the co-pilot, 2nd Lt Robert Anderson, the bombardier 2nd Lt Arthur Halbrooks, the ball turret gunner, S/Sgt Hugh Erwin and the engineer, S/Sgt Vane Brown. The next day, they were buried in a common grave, together with three unidentified bodies at the cemetery of Pollinkhove. These bodies must have been the remains of S/Sgt Parise, S/Sgt Anderson and 2nd Lt John Kelliher. The next day, the bodies of S/Sgt Robert Dickson and S/Sgt James Boyette were found in the wreckage. They were buried along their comrades on 20 January. Members of 5./Flak Regiment 53 served als honor guard.

At the place of the crash in the Clamarastraat in Pollinkhove, a statue remembers those fallen airmen.