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Personal info

Full name
HUNDLEY, James Forrest
Date of birth
21 November 1921
Age
22
Place of birth
Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina
Hometown
Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina

Military service

Service number
O-766272
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Bombardier
Unit
401st Bombardment Squadron,
91st Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
2 November 1944
Place of death
In the vicinity of Leipzig, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg
Plot Row Grave
H 10 48

Immediate family

Members
James H. Hundley (father)
Margaret B. (McDuffie) Hundley (mother)
Helen M. Hundley (sister)
Paul L. Hundley (brother)
Mary C. Hundley (sister)
Phillip R. Hundley (brother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-31883
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: The Jub Jub Bird
Destination: Merseburg, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the synthetic oil plants
MACR: 10304

More information

2nd Lt James F. Hundley was employed at the C. D. Kenny Company before he joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in South Carolina on 1 September 1942.

T/Sgt Henry N. Haeckl:
We were flying at approximately 27,000 feet altitude, shortly after bombs away. Aircraft B-17G, 42-31883, suffered a direct hit at this time by flak. The flak shell burst immediately under the pilot’s compartment and the aircraft blew up immediately. The cockpit, sides, and top around the pilot’s position blew out of the ship. There was just one belch of flame and a puff of smoke, presumably it was an oxygen explosion. Subject aircraft passed under us, headed downward in a steep dive. No parachutes were seen to come from this ship.

S/Sgt Arnold E. Kramer:
We had been hit badly in the radio room as well in the nose, Hundley was probably killed instantly by the explosion.

He was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery in Grand-Failly, France.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / WWII Draft Cards Young Men / Brown Family Tree, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.findagrave.com – Russ Pickett

Photo source: www.findagrave.com – LuxAmCem / Family Tracker, www.ancestry.com – Tim Monroe, www.newspapers.com – Charleston News and Courier - 25 February 1945