Missing information?

Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?

Submit

Personal info

Full name
O'HARA, Joseph
Date of birth
1920
Age
unknown
Place of birth
New Jersey
Hometown
Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey

Military service

Service number
32609530
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Tail Turret Gunner
Unit
512th Bombardment Squadron,
376th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
14 July 1944
Place of death
Near Budapest, Hungary

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Lorraine
Plot Row Grave
B 15 39

Immediate family

Members
Alice (Behling) O'Hara (mother)

Plane data

Serial number
41-28920
Data
Type: B-24H
Nickname: Big Marge
Destination: Budapest, Hungary
Mission: Bombing of the oil refinery
MACR: 6958

More information

S/Sgt Joseph O’Hara attended college and was a financial institution clerk before he enlisted in Newark, New Jersey on 23 January 1943.

2nd Lt Phillip D. Hoskins:
“We were flying in C flight #3 position behind and below Lt White, who was in plane #33, AAF 41-28920. Fighters attacked us from high at eleven o’clock, out of the sun and passed between Lt White’s flight and ours. As the fighters left us, I saw Lt White’s ship drop out of formation and down, turning slowly to the right. As he lifted his wing, I saw flames coming from either the #2 engine or from the bomb bay. The doors were open. Two men left the ship and I called the navigator and asked him to get the position so we could report it to S-2. After returning to the base our waist gunner, St Monolo, said he saw seven chutes open.”

T/Sgt Charles M. Flatley:
“I believe S/Sgt O’Hara failed to bail out and was killed.”

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / 1930 Census, www.fold3.com, http://aircrewremembered.com/USAAFCombatOperations/Jul.44.html

Photo source: -