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Personal info

Full name
PECK, Ralph Edward
Date of birth
23 August 1920
Age
23
Place of birth
Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana
Hometown
Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana

Military service

Service number
O-690969
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
721st Bombardment Squadron,
450th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
23 February 1944
Place of death
Wels, Austria

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Lorraine
Plot Row Grave
K 31 31

Immediate family

Members
Ray H. Peck (father)
Cleo M. (Campbell) Peck (mother)
Eloris M. (Skinner) Peck (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
41-29255
Data
Type: B-24H
Nickname: S. H. Mouse Esq
Destination: Steyr, Austria
Mission: Bombing of the industrial complex
MACR: 3956

More information

2nd Lt Ralph E. Peck graduated from Kokomo High School in 1938 and attended Kokomo Junoir College and Pudrue University. He was employed at Delco Radio Division as a draftsman before he joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center, Texas on 3 November 1942. He trained as an aviation cadet in San Antonio, Texas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Coffeyville, Kansas and received his commission at the Army Airforce Center in Altus, Oklahoma.

Flt/O Lawrence Levinson: "On 23 February 1944, I was the navigator in plane No.109 to bomb installations at Steyr, Austria. Over the target area just before bomb release time, I saw a ship marked with a Yellow 10, Lt Cannon’s aircraft, fall out of the high right element with its Number 2 engine burning. Members of my crew counted five chutes as the ship went down. The aircraft was seen last at 48.10N 14.02E. The time was 1210. The altitude was 21,000 feet."

2nd Lt John L. Mitchell: "I believe that he was either trapped by fire or hit after last seen."

The first picture was taken in high school in 1938.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / Indiana Marriages / Indiana Birth Certificates, www.fold3.com, http://aircrewremembered.com/USAAFCombatOperations/Feb.44.html
Photo source: Kokomo High School yearbook 1938, The Kokomo Tribune 22 October 1945