Robert William Ahern Jr

Military ROLL OF HONOUR
media-36497.jpeg UPL 36497 1st Lt. Robert W. Ahern Jr. with his plane, a P-38.

Sabra Potter - Grand-niece

Object Number - UPL 36497 - 1st Lt. Robert W. Ahern Jr. with his plane, a P-38.

Robert was one of 5 children. Born in Duluth, Minnesota and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. His last mission involved the bombing of a train. He flew over the train once as a warning for passengers to evacuate. On the second flyover, he was shot down and crash landed in a field nearby. A local village family wrote of how grateful they were for his service and how he purposely missed their village while crash landing. He died on impact. He was 23 years old.



Assigned to 55FS, 20FG, 8AF USAAF. Failed to Return (FTR) droopsnoot mission to Tours, France. Crashed near Valmeray in P-38J 42-67885, brought down by flak on 23-Apr-44. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 4124.



Awards: DFC, AM (3 OLC), PH.

Connections

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Units served with

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: P-38 Lightning
  • Unit: 20th Fighter Group 55th Fighter Squadron

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Duluth, Minnesota 11 April 1921 Son of Robert W Sr and Ruth Mary [Prindiville] Ahern.

Enlisted

Patterson Field, W 8th St, East Liverpool, OH 43920, USA 13 April 1942 Patterson Field, Fairfield, Ohio

Based

Assigned

Wittering 27 August 1943 - 23 April 1944 Assigned to 55FS, 20FG, 8AF USAAF.

Other

Killed in Action (KIA)

Valmeray, 14370 Moult, France 23 April 1944 Failed to Return (FTR) droopsnoot mission to Tours, France. Crashed near Valmeray in P-38J 42-67885, brought down by flak on 23-Apr-44. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 4124.

Other

Promoted

Wittering, Peterborough, Peterborough PE8, UK Promoted to 1st Lieutenant.

Buried

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial Re-Interred Normandy American Cemetery Colleville-sur-Mer, France Plot B Row 23 Grave 33
Cincinnati, OH, USA

Revisions

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ContributorAl_Skiff
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Contributorpottersc
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Sabra Potter - Grand-niece

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Contributorpottersc
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Sabra Potter - Grand-niece

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Contributorpottersc
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Sabra Potter - Grand-niece

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Contributorpottersc
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Sabra Potter - Grand-Niece.

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Contributor466thHistorian
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Merged with duplicate entries to include details from:
- the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia ;
- MACR 4124, ;
- King;'s Cliffe Memorial Edition;
- Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

Date
ContributorAl_Skiff
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Surname corrected

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ContributorAAM
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Sources

Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list

Robert William Ahern: Gallery (7 items)