Patrick Francis Kerns was the eldest son of Patrick and Minnie Kerns. Patrick enlisted for military service in Philadelphia, Pa. on Jan.5, 1942 at the age of 19. He had completed his H.S. Education and probably had some form of employment but job prospects were likely to be meager at best. On his military application he had listed his occupation as an actor, which makes me believe that he was just joking around and having some fun with it. He joined up what was then called the Army Air Corps (before the actual creation of the Air Force). Growing up my grandmother would rummage around in her tiny attic and dig up some of the drawings and sketches my Uncle Pat had made of Dick Tracy and other characters of that era. She liked to say that was where my own artistic flair came from and that always made me beam with pride because it pleased her to remember him in that way.



I didn't know my uncle at all, he was long gone before I came around but his presence was always felt in my grandmothers cozy, simple home. His handsome military portrait was prominently displayed on the mantelpiece in the front room and all of us kids would be in awe of the stories my father would tell of their very humble but loving upbringing together such as huckleberry picking, gathering around the radio together to listen to the voice of "The Shadow" and taking baths out back in a barrel even in winter! They walked to school about a mile each day in bare feet to save their shoes and their early education was in a one room schoolhouse up the road. According to my dad, Patrick used to have an old, battered bicycle and would tear down the hill at warp speed after school let out. He had one sister Rosemary (deceased), and brothers Jackie (deceased), James (deceased), Tommy, Donald (my father) and the youngest was Bobby. His father Pat,Sr. worked on the railroad and later in the local Anthracite coal mines; my grandmother for a time had her own homemade pie business: "Minnie's Pies" and they were exceptional. The day her son was killed, Minnie had a terrible premonition that something had happened to him. Mother and son had a very close bond that remained even after his untimely death.



Uncle Pat was awarded an Air medal and a Purple Heart for his service, which we still cherish in his honor.



Killed in Action (KIA). B24 42-40598 failed to return to St. Eval from 'Musketry' patrol on July 20, 1943.  An SOS was received but searchers couldn't find crew or plane. The crew was assigned to an antisubmarine group.



AM, PH