Citation of Unit for Outstanding Performance
Aug 16, 1945 47th Bomb Gp, US Army Air Corps
Aerial Assualt on Po Valley, Italy
When after 5 1/2 months of intensive night aerial effort against enemy communications and other key targets in Northern Italy during which more than 680 tons of bombs were dropped on vital Po River Crossings in April 1945 alone, the 47th Bombardment Group was called upon to render all-out effort in coordination with the Allies drive through the Po Valley, air and ground crews responded so valiantly as to exceed expectations. In the 60 hour period from sundown on 21 April to dawn of 24 April flying around the clock despite unquestioned weariness of air crew members and an extreme shortage of ground personnel, assigned on a basis of a day-operating light bombardment group with six less aircraft per squadron than were actually assigned and called upon to maintain aircraft which in many cases had been in combat more than a year, the 47th Bombardment Group flew 334 sorties against the enemy at the peak of the battle, hitting his motor transport and horse drawn vehicles with such precision accuracy that he was unable to withdraw across the Po River as an organized fighting force. Courageous airmen, in the face of adverse weather and rugged terrain which made night flying exceedingly difficult, relentlessly attacked the enemy night and day, while the ground crews, supplemented by clerks and cooks who left their duties to bomb up the A-20 and A-26 aircraft, maintained operations for 60 consecutive hours with only a brief and intermittent halts for sleep. In several hundred single-aircraft attacks which taxed the professional skill and determination of the air crews to the utmost, motor, rail, and other transport in and to the North of the battle zone were attacked with highly destructive results. During this period, the Group was officially credited with destroying 55 motor vehicles, 17 railway cars, a fuel dump, and many other various targets while damaging 50 motor vehicles, 3 tanks, and 18 railway cars, much greater damage and destruction was caused but could not be assessed in the darkness. Despite long months of training in evasive action, so intense and accurate was the anti-aircraft fire encountered that three aircraft were lost and four others damaged. Yet these gallant airmen, many of whom flew voluntarily, displayed such extraordinary heroism and espirit de corps that they played a major role in defeating the enemy in Italy by preventing him from reaching the mountain fastnesses of the Southern Alps. The courage, determination, and selfless devotion to duty displayed by the personnel of the 47th Bomardment Group in this last battle in Italy have reflected highest credit upon themselves and the Military Service of the United States.
One of the aircraft lost on April 23rd, 1945 was a Douglas A-26-B Invader AAF#43-22441 on a night intruder mission with these three brave men aboard of the 97th Bombardment Squadron who lost their lives protecting the freedom of all those affected by Adolf Hitler and his forces. Thank you seems so inadequate for the price paid by all the brave men and women in WWII and particularly to these three who gave all they had to give. Each one a true American Hero in every sense of the word.
Staff Sargeant John LeNoir a US Army Air Corps airborne gunner died just two months short of his 23rd birthday. He attended Ellington High School and was living in Reynolds County, Missouri before volunteering for duty on October 28, 1942 at Jefferson Barracks for service with the Army Air Corps. His name is inscribed on the monument to fallen war heroes at the Reynolds County Courthouse in Centerville, Missouri. He was awarded the Air Medal, Purple Heart, WWII Victory Medal, and Eur/African/ME Campaign Medal as tribute to his sacrifice.
John I never knew you, but those who did said you were as good as they come. People say only the good die young. God chose for you to be our hero and you will always be.
Rick
Aug 16, 1945 47th Bomb Gp, US Army Air Corps
Aerial Assualt on Po Valley, Italy
When after 5 1/2 months of intensive night aerial effort against enemy communications and other key targets in Northern Italy during which more than 680 tons of bombs were dropped on vital Po River Crossings in April 1945 alone, the 47th Bombardment Group was called upon to render all-out effort in coordination with the Allies drive through the Po Valley, air and ground crews responded so valiantly as to exceed expectations. In the 60 hour period from sundown on 21 April to dawn of 24 April flying around the clock despite unquestioned weariness of air crew members and an extreme shortage of ground personnel, assigned on a basis of a day-operating light bombardment group with six less aircraft per squadron than were actually assigned and called upon to maintain aircraft which in many cases had been in combat more than a year, the 47th Bombardment Group flew 334 sorties against the enemy at the peak of the battle, hitting his motor transport and horse drawn vehicles with such precision accuracy that he was unable to withdraw across the Po River as an organized fighting force. Courageous airmen, in the face of adverse weather and rugged terrain which made night flying exceedingly difficult, relentlessly attacked the enemy night and day, while the ground crews, supplemented by clerks and cooks who left their duties to bomb up the A-20 and A-26 aircraft, maintained operations for 60 consecutive hours with only a brief and intermittent halts for sleep. In several hundred single-aircraft attacks which taxed the professional skill and determination of the air crews to the utmost, motor, rail, and other transport in and to the North of the battle zone were attacked with highly destructive results. During this period, the Group was officially credited with destroying 55 motor vehicles, 17 railway cars, a fuel dump, and many other various targets while damaging 50 motor vehicles, 3 tanks, and 18 railway cars, much greater damage and destruction was caused but could not be assessed in the darkness. Despite long months of training in evasive action, so intense and accurate was the anti-aircraft fire encountered that three aircraft were lost and four others damaged. Yet these gallant airmen, many of whom flew voluntarily, displayed such extraordinary heroism and espirit de corps that they played a major role in defeating the enemy in Italy by preventing him from reaching the mountain fastnesses of the Southern Alps. The courage, determination, and selfless devotion to duty displayed by the personnel of the 47th Bomardment Group in this last battle in Italy have reflected highest credit upon themselves and the Military Service of the United States.
One of the aircraft lost on April 23rd, 1945 was a Douglas A-26-B Invader AAF#43-22441 on a night intruder mission with these three brave men aboard of the 97th Bombardment Squadron who lost their lives protecting the freedom of all those affected by Adolf Hitler and his forces. Thank you seems so inadequate for the price paid by all the brave men and women in WWII and particularly to these three who gave all they had to give. Each one a true American Hero in every sense of the word.
Staff Sargeant John LeNoir a US Army Air Corps airborne gunner died just two months short of his 23rd birthday. He attended Ellington High School and was living in Reynolds County, Missouri before volunteering for duty on October 28, 1942 at Jefferson Barracks for service with the Army Air Corps. His name is inscribed on the monument to fallen war heroes at the Reynolds County Courthouse in Centerville, Missouri. He was awarded the Air Medal, Purple Heart, WWII Victory Medal, and Eur/African/ME Campaign Medal as tribute to his sacrifice.
John I never knew you, but those who did said you were as good as they come. People say only the good die young. God chose for you to be our hero and you will always be.
Rick
Citation of Unit for Outstanding Performance
Aug 16, 1945 47th Bomb Gp, US Army Air Corps
Aerial Assualt on Po Valley, Italy
When after 5 1/2 months of intensive night aerial effort against enemy communications and other key targets in Northern Italy during which more than 680 tons of bombs were dropped on vital Po River Crossings in April 1945 alone, the 47th Bombardment Group was called upon to render all-out effort in coordination with the Allies drive through the Po Valley, air and ground crews responded so valiantly as to exceed expectations. In the 60 hour period from sundown on 21 April to dawn of 24 April flying around the clock despite unquestioned weariness of air crew members and an extreme shortage of ground personnel, assigned on a basis of a day-operating light bombardment group with six less aircraft per squadron than were actually assigned and called upon to maintain aircraft which in many cases had been in combat more than a year, the 47th Bombardment Group flew 334 sorties against the enemy at the peak of the battle, hitting his motor transport and horse drawn vehicles with such precision accuracy that he was unable to withdraw across the Po River as an organized fighting force. Courageous airmen, in the face of adverse weather and rugged terrain which made night flying exceedingly difficult, relentlessly attacked the enemy night and day, while the ground crews, supplemented by clerks and cooks who left their duties to bomb up the A-20 and A-26 aircraft, maintained operations for 60 consecutive hours with only a brief and intermittent halts for sleep. In several hundred single-aircraft attacks which taxed the professional skill and determination of the air crews to the utmost, motor, rail, and other transport in and to the North of the battle zone were attacked with highly destructive results. During this period, the Group was officially credited with destroying 55 motor vehicles, 17 railway cars, a fuel dump, and many other various targets while damaging 50 motor vehicles, 3 tanks, and 18 railway cars, much greater damage and destruction was caused but could not be assessed in the darkness. Despite long months of training in evasive action, so intense and accurate was the anti-aircraft fire encountered that three aircraft were lost and four others damaged. Yet these gallant airmen, many of whom flew voluntarily, displayed such extraordinary heroism and espirit de corps that they played a major role in defeating the enemy in Italy by preventing him from reaching the mountain fastnesses of the Southern Alps. The courage, determination, and selfless devotion to duty displayed by the personnel of the 47th Bomardment Group in this last battle in Italy have reflected highest credit upon themselves and the Military Service of the United States.
One of the aircraft lost on April 23rd, 1945 was a Douglas A-26-B Invader AAF#43-22441 on a night intruder mission with these three brave men aboard of the 97th Bombardment Squadron who lost their lives protecting the freedom of all those affected by Adolf Hitler and his forces. Thank you seems so inadequate for the price paid by all the brave men and women in WWII and particularly to these three who gave all they had to give. Each one a true American Hero in every sense of the word.
Staff Sargeant John LeNoir a US Army Air Corps airborne gunner died just two months short of his 23rd birthday. He attended Ellington High School and was living in Reynolds County, Missouri before volunteering for duty on October 28, 1942 at Jefferson Barracks for service with the Army Air Corps. His name is inscribed on the monument to fallen war heroes at the Reynolds County Courthouse in Centerville, Missouri. He was awarded the Air Medal, Purple Heart, WWII Victory Medal, and Eur/African/ME Campaign Medal as tribute to his sacrifice.
John I never knew you, but those who did said you were as good as they come. People say only the good die young. God chose for you to be our hero and you will always be.
Rick
Aug 16, 1945 47th Bomb Gp, US Army Air Corps
Aerial Assualt on Po Valley, Italy
When after 5 1/2 months of intensive night aerial effort against enemy communications and other key targets in Northern Italy during which more than 680 tons of bombs were dropped on vital Po River Crossings in April 1945 alone, the 47th Bombardment Group was called upon to render all-out effort in coordination with the Allies drive through the Po Valley, air and ground crews responded so valiantly as to exceed expectations. In the 60 hour period from sundown on 21 April to dawn of 24 April flying around the clock despite unquestioned weariness of air crew members and an extreme shortage of ground personnel, assigned on a basis of a day-operating light bombardment group with six less aircraft per squadron than were actually assigned and called upon to maintain aircraft which in many cases had been in combat more than a year, the 47th Bombardment Group flew 334 sorties against the enemy at the peak of the battle, hitting his motor transport and horse drawn vehicles with such precision accuracy that he was unable to withdraw across the Po River as an organized fighting force. Courageous airmen, in the face of adverse weather and rugged terrain which made night flying exceedingly difficult, relentlessly attacked the enemy night and day, while the ground crews, supplemented by clerks and cooks who left their duties to bomb up the A-20 and A-26 aircraft, maintained operations for 60 consecutive hours with only a brief and intermittent halts for sleep. In several hundred single-aircraft attacks which taxed the professional skill and determination of the air crews to the utmost, motor, rail, and other transport in and to the North of the battle zone were attacked with highly destructive results. During this period, the Group was officially credited with destroying 55 motor vehicles, 17 railway cars, a fuel dump, and many other various targets while damaging 50 motor vehicles, 3 tanks, and 18 railway cars, much greater damage and destruction was caused but could not be assessed in the darkness. Despite long months of training in evasive action, so intense and accurate was the anti-aircraft fire encountered that three aircraft were lost and four others damaged. Yet these gallant airmen, many of whom flew voluntarily, displayed such extraordinary heroism and espirit de corps that they played a major role in defeating the enemy in Italy by preventing him from reaching the mountain fastnesses of the Southern Alps. The courage, determination, and selfless devotion to duty displayed by the personnel of the 47th Bomardment Group in this last battle in Italy have reflected highest credit upon themselves and the Military Service of the United States.
One of the aircraft lost on April 23rd, 1945 was a Douglas A-26-B Invader AAF#43-22441 on a night intruder mission with these three brave men aboard of the 97th Bombardment Squadron who lost their lives protecting the freedom of all those affected by Adolf Hitler and his forces. Thank you seems so inadequate for the price paid by all the brave men and women in WWII and particularly to these three who gave all they had to give. Each one a true American Hero in every sense of the word.
Staff Sargeant John LeNoir a US Army Air Corps airborne gunner died just two months short of his 23rd birthday. He attended Ellington High School and was living in Reynolds County, Missouri before volunteering for duty on October 28, 1942 at Jefferson Barracks for service with the Army Air Corps. His name is inscribed on the monument to fallen war heroes at the Reynolds County Courthouse in Centerville, Missouri. He was awarded the Air Medal, Purple Heart, WWII Victory Medal, and Eur/African/ME Campaign Medal as tribute to his sacrifice.
John I never knew you, but those who did said you were as good as they come. People say only the good die young. God chose for you to be our hero and you will always be.
Rick
Gravesite Details
Internment record states remains entered here on July 1, 1949
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