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Personal info

Full name
KENNEDY, Richard Waldo
Date of birth
17 September 1922
Age
21
Place of birth
Natick, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Hometown
Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Military service

Service number
11091521
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Assistant Engineer/Right Waist Gunner
Unit
338th Bombardment Squadron,
96th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
8 May 1944
Place of death
In the vicinity of Schwarmstedt, 6 km west of Gut Hustedt, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
B 34 25

Immediate family

Members
Waldo H. Kennedy (father)
Helen N. Kennedy (mother)
Katherine L. Kennedy (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-102525
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Berlin, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the city
MACR: 4576

More information

S/Sgt Richard W. Kennedy graduated from Natick High School in 1940.

He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in Boston, Massachusetts on 16 October 1942. He was a mechanic before he joined the army.

The airplane was attacked by fighters and broke in half prior to the crash. The entire crew of 10 was killed.

Eight of them were recovered and buried at the Jewish cemetery of Hoya on 10 May 1944. Only the remains of James V. Ball, then listed as unknown, was buried at the Russian POW Cemetery of Vechta on 11 May 1944. Eight days after the crash, a Luftwaffe guard detail discovered the totally burned remains of the last two crewmembers in the wreckage (Edward J. Bondy and Charles B. Birdsey). Their are no records what happened with these bodies.

S/Sgt Richard W. Kennedy is remembered with a memorial marker at Saint Patrick's Cemetery in Natick, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

The picture was taken in high school in 1940.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Draft Card

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Natick High School 1940