Memorial

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2nd Lt James L. Lovelace graduated from Central High School and was employed by the Standard Oil Company in Jackson before he joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Jackson, Mississippi on 5 June 1942. he was sent overseas in April 1944.

A night-fighter was seen to be shadowing them so th epilot tried to hide in the clouds but the layers were too thin. Coming out of the clouds the aircraft was hit by a burst of cannon fire setting the #2 engine and the rear of the bomb bay ablaze.

Efforts to stop the fire proved futile so the pilot rang the alarm bell at about 6,000ft and the crew bailed out over Méréville, about 40 miles south of Paris.

S/Sgt Syra was either seriously wounded or killed in the fighter attack. The rest of the crew successfully bailed out but tragically 2nd Lt Lovelace was killed when his parachute became entangled as he tried to exit the aircraft.

He was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery in Solers, France.

He and Ellis H. Syra are remembered on a monument in Autruy-sur-Juine, France.