Memorial

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Sgt John C. Parise attended high school for four years and was an actor.

He joined the Regular Army in Columbus, Ohio on 29 August 1941.

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.