Staff Sergeant John Edward Walsh

U.S. Army Air Force, 390th Bomb Group (H)

John Edward Walsh was born on 27 June 1923 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the oldest child of Peter Walsh, a World War I veteran, and Ellen McCormack. Both of John’s parents were immigrants from Ireland. John had three younger brothers – Vincent Peter, Francis Joseph, and Alfred.

According to the 1930 US Federal Census, the Walsh family lived at 5333 Ashland Avenue, Chicago. John’s father Peter was a motorman on the city’s street cars, his mother Ellen, a homemaker.

By the time of the 1940 US Federal Census, the family were homeowners, living at 2553 West Fargo Avenue; Peter still worked as a motorman. And 16-year old John was recorded as having completed two years of high school by that time.

After high school, John went to work at the Kemper Insurance Company. On 29 June 1942, when he was 19 years old, he registered for the draft at 2345 West Devon Street, Chicago. According to his Draft Registration Card, John was 5 ft, 11 inches tall, weighed 150 pounds, had black hair, blue eyes, and a light complexion.

He joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 390th Bomb Group (H), which flew B-17s (Flying Fortresses) from the airfield at Framlingham, Suffolk, England, from July 1943 through the end of the war in Europe.

According to the 15 March 1946 War Department Army Air Force Missing Air Crew Report, on 30 November 1944, John, a top turret gunner, took off on his 15th combat mission – a bombing raid – on B-17 #4337519 (“Da Joker”). As the plane neared its targets, the oil fields of Meresburg, Germany, it was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and exploded; the wreckage fell to earth. Three crew members -- Lt. Edwin C. Booth, Jr. (pilot), 2nd Lt. Quentin L. Davidson (co-pilot), and Sergeant Joseph D. Jackson (ball turret gunner) died immediately.

Four other crew members were captured and held as prisoners of war – 2nd Lt. Herbert Gates (bombardier), Staff Sergeant William Percival Long (radio operator), Sergeant Anthony Morreale (waist gunner), and Sergeant Bruce Greeno (tail gunner). Flight Officer and Navigator Abraham Elhai was initially believed to have survived and escaped capture, but it was later determined that he had died; the Elhai family received a Finding of Death (FOD).

Several surviving crew members later reported that John did not always wear his dog tags and may have lost them in London. As a result, formal identification of his body was delayed. In early December 1944, the deceased crew members, including the body believed to be that of John Walsh, were interred in the main cemetery at Zwickau, Saxony, Germany (main section IV/XI, Graves 15 -- 18).

According to an obituary published in the Chicago Tribune on 2 March 1946, John’s parents learned of his death three months later. On 16 March 1946, the family held a memorial service at St. Margaret Mary’s Church in Chicago.

John’s body was finally returned to the United States and re-interred in Arlington National Cemetery (Section 12, Grave 6489-1), Arlington, Virginia, on 30 November 1951.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

SOURCES:

1930 & 1940 US Federal Census, Draft Registration Card: www.ancestry.com
Arlington National Cemetery Grave Information & Tombstone Photo: www.findagrave.com & www.arlingtoncemetery.mil
Information on Crew Members, Initial Burial Site of Deceased: War Department Army Air Force Missing Air Crew Report, 15 March 1946, www.fold3.com and “John E Walsh,” www.americanairmuseum.com/person/121548
Obituary of John E. Walsh: Chicago Tribune, 2 March 1946: www.newspapers.com

STORIES OF OTHER "DA JOKER" CREW MEMBERS:

**Quentin L. Davidson, **https://www.fold3.com/page/653605609-the-last-flight-of-da-joker
**Joseph D. Jackson, **https://www.fold3.com/page/653605608-sgt-joseph-d-jackson
**Abraham Elhai, **https://www.fold3.com/page/653605754-abraham-elhai/stories
**Edwin C. Booth, Jr., **https://www.fold3.com/page/653605815-1lt-edwin-c-booth-jr

John E. Walsh