World War II Honoree

Vernon L. Hamilton

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Monongahela, Pennsylvania

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Sergeant. Inducted into the United States Army October 13, 1943 at Greensboro, North Carolina. Upon his graduation from recruit training, he was designate to attend the Flight Aviation Training Program. He served as a Gunner aboard the Douglas A-26B Invader Bomber, assigned to the 642nd Bomber Squadron, 409th Bomber Group, Ninety-Seventh Combat Wing, an element of the U.S. Ninth Army Air Forces. His unit was based at the Laon-Couvron Air Base, near the village of Couvron, France. Wednesday, March 21, 1945 he was reported missing in action, when his aircraft was shot-down by German anti-aircraft ground fire, while participating in a bombing mission to Dülmen, Germany. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Netherlands American Cemetery Location: Margraten, Netherlands. Personnel from the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency in November and December of 2016 excavated the crash-site. The team recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, military gear and other artifacts. The remains were transferred to the Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, were he was identified. This Airman’s family requested that he be buried with Military Honors at Monongahela Cemetery Monongahela, Pennsylvania, with interment Saturday, April 23, 2019. 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 Heroism and ultimate sacrifice.