James Francis Hochadel was born on 10 July 1923 in Youngstown, Mahoning, Ohio. He was the son of Joseph M. Hochadel and Mildred A Davis. His father was an application clerk for a Gas Company. James had three younger siblings-two brothers and a sister.

On 27 June 1942, James was 18 and employed by the Ohio Leather Company in Girard, Ohio. He was 5’8” and weighed 125 pounds. He had brown eyes, red hair, and a ruddy complexion.

He enlisted as a Private in the Army Air Corps on 24 October 1942 at Fort Hayes, Columbus, Ohio. He had completed three years of high school at that time.

James Frances Hochadel was a staff sergeant assigned to the 603rd Bomber Squadron, 398th Bomber Group, Heavy. On 8 August 1944 SSgt Hochadel was the Ball Turret Gunner on B-17-42-107223. The 398th Bomb Group flew B-17 Flying Fortresses from Station 131 Nuthampstead, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom on strategic bombing raids over Germany. The Group switched focus in the days before D-Day, when they targeted enemy positions for Totalize in the Calvados region on the Cherbourg peninsula.

Their B-17 was in the lead position of the formation. They were hit four times by flak 3 minutes out from the target. With numbers 2 and 4 engines on fire, the pilot dropped his bombs, fell out of formation, and ordered the crew to bail out at 13000 feet, staying at the controls long enough for them to do so. Ten parachutes were seen to leave the aircraft. The airmen were shot at on the way down. Small arms fire killed Lt Arnold and Sgt Hochadel in midair. Hochadel was shot in the head. His body was originally buried in a hedgerow by the Germans in a farm near Berjou.

Staff Sergeant James Francis Hochadel is buried or memorialized at Plot A Row 7 Grave 34, Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.

SSgt James F Hochadel was awarded the following commendations: ★ Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters ★ Purple Heart ★ World War II Victory Medal ★ American Campaign Medal ★ Army Presidential Unit Citation ★ Army Good Conduct Medal and the ★ European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.

A grateful nation honors his service and keeps his memory alive.

This story was created by researching numerous records. These included census records, military application for headstone, World War II Army Enlistment Record, Findagrave.com , Newspapers.com articles, Honorstates.org, records of the 398th Bombardment Group, FieldsofHonor-database.com etc.

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?

S/Sgt James Francis Hochadel