World War II Honoree

John F. Fenzel

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Baltimore, Maryland

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Staff Sergeant. Inducted into the United States Army July 15, 1941 at Baltimore, Maryland. Upon his graduation from recruit training, he was designate to attend the Flight Aviation Training Program. Served as a B-24J ‘Liberator’ Bomber assistant Radar Operator and gunner assigned to the Thirty-Eighth Bombardment Squadron, Thirtieth Bombardment Group a subordinate unit of the U.S. Seventh Army Air Forces. His unit was based at Tarawa Airfield ‘Hawkins Field’ on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll Gilbert Islands, Location: Central Pacific Theater of Operations. Reported missing in action or lost at Sea Friday, January 21, 1944, when the pilot experienced engine failures during take-off, crashing into the Tarawa Lagoon. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial Location: Honolulu, Hawaii. This American Patriot received the following decorations posthumously: Air Medal and the Purple Heart. The Air Medal was awarded to the Sergeant for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight, and the Purple Heart for his ultimate sacrifice.