Staff Sergeant and Asst. Radio Operator
on B-24L Liberator #44-41421, serving with
the 371st Bomb Squadron, 307th Bomb Group,
13th Air Force in World War II.
The B-24s departed Noemfoor, Indonesia for a
strike mission to Japanese-held airfields on
Negros Island, Philippines.
The bombers were intercepted by the Japanese
and came under intense cannon fire by the
enemy fighter planes.
A photograph of John's B-24 was taken at
the exact moment the right wing folded up and
the tail section disintegrated under the the
barrage of gunfire. Moments later the aircraft
plunged into a mountainside at the northern
tip of Negros and exploded. All aboard were
killed.
Three days later that photograph appeared in
many US newspapers.
Following the war, the wreck site was found
and the crew's remains recovered. All ten were
interred in a common grave in Virginia on
September 27, 1949.
They were:
1st Lt. Walter A. Scalese, Pilot, Windber, PA
2nd Lt. Stephen Fuda, Co-Pilot, Stamford, CT
Flt. Off. Joseph E. Novakovits, Navigator,
Bethlehem, PA
1st Lt. Paul H. Phillips, Bombardier,
Logan, WV
TSgt. Chester E. Matz, Radio Operator,
Wilkes-Barre, PA
TSgt. Charles H. Neville, Engineer,
Evansville, IN
SSgt. George J. Kacoyannakis, Asst. Engineer,
Tyrone, NY
SSgt. John T. Stough, Asst. Radio Operator,
Jeanette, PA
SSgt. Robert L. Dyson, Gunner, Dennison, OH
SSgt. Michael P. Falcone, Gunner, Bangor, PA
on B-24L Liberator #44-41421, serving with
the 371st Bomb Squadron, 307th Bomb Group,
13th Air Force in World War II.
The B-24s departed Noemfoor, Indonesia for a
strike mission to Japanese-held airfields on
Negros Island, Philippines.
The bombers were intercepted by the Japanese
and came under intense cannon fire by the
enemy fighter planes.
A photograph of John's B-24 was taken at
the exact moment the right wing folded up and
the tail section disintegrated under the the
barrage of gunfire. Moments later the aircraft
plunged into a mountainside at the northern
tip of Negros and exploded. All aboard were
killed.
Three days later that photograph appeared in
many US newspapers.
Following the war, the wreck site was found
and the crew's remains recovered. All ten were
interred in a common grave in Virginia on
September 27, 1949.
They were:
1st Lt. Walter A. Scalese, Pilot, Windber, PA
2nd Lt. Stephen Fuda, Co-Pilot, Stamford, CT
Flt. Off. Joseph E. Novakovits, Navigator,
Bethlehem, PA
1st Lt. Paul H. Phillips, Bombardier,
Logan, WV
TSgt. Chester E. Matz, Radio Operator,
Wilkes-Barre, PA
TSgt. Charles H. Neville, Engineer,
Evansville, IN
SSgt. George J. Kacoyannakis, Asst. Engineer,
Tyrone, NY
SSgt. John T. Stough, Asst. Radio Operator,
Jeanette, PA
SSgt. Robert L. Dyson, Gunner, Dennison, OH
SSgt. Michael P. Falcone, Gunner, Bangor, PA
Staff Sergeant and Asst. Radio Operator
on B-24L Liberator #44-41421, serving with
the 371st Bomb Squadron, 307th Bomb Group,
13th Air Force in World War II.
The B-24s departed Noemfoor, Indonesia for a
strike mission to Japanese-held airfields on
Negros Island, Philippines.
The bombers were intercepted by the Japanese
and came under intense cannon fire by the
enemy fighter planes.
A photograph of John's B-24 was taken at
the exact moment the right wing folded up and
the tail section disintegrated under the the
barrage of gunfire. Moments later the aircraft
plunged into a mountainside at the northern
tip of Negros and exploded. All aboard were
killed.
Three days later that photograph appeared in
many US newspapers.
Following the war, the wreck site was found
and the crew's remains recovered. All ten were
interred in a common grave in Virginia on
September 27, 1949.
They were:
1st Lt. Walter A. Scalese, Pilot, Windber, PA
2nd Lt. Stephen Fuda, Co-Pilot, Stamford, CT
Flt. Off. Joseph E. Novakovits, Navigator,
Bethlehem, PA
1st Lt. Paul H. Phillips, Bombardier,
Logan, WV
TSgt. Chester E. Matz, Radio Operator,
Wilkes-Barre, PA
TSgt. Charles H. Neville, Engineer,
Evansville, IN
SSgt. George J. Kacoyannakis, Asst. Engineer,
Tyrone, NY
SSgt. John T. Stough, Asst. Radio Operator,
Jeanette, PA
SSgt. Robert L. Dyson, Gunner, Dennison, OH
SSgt. Michael P. Falcone, Gunner, Bangor, PA
on B-24L Liberator #44-41421, serving with
the 371st Bomb Squadron, 307th Bomb Group,
13th Air Force in World War II.
The B-24s departed Noemfoor, Indonesia for a
strike mission to Japanese-held airfields on
Negros Island, Philippines.
The bombers were intercepted by the Japanese
and came under intense cannon fire by the
enemy fighter planes.
A photograph of John's B-24 was taken at
the exact moment the right wing folded up and
the tail section disintegrated under the the
barrage of gunfire. Moments later the aircraft
plunged into a mountainside at the northern
tip of Negros and exploded. All aboard were
killed.
Three days later that photograph appeared in
many US newspapers.
Following the war, the wreck site was found
and the crew's remains recovered. All ten were
interred in a common grave in Virginia on
September 27, 1949.
They were:
1st Lt. Walter A. Scalese, Pilot, Windber, PA
2nd Lt. Stephen Fuda, Co-Pilot, Stamford, CT
Flt. Off. Joseph E. Novakovits, Navigator,
Bethlehem, PA
1st Lt. Paul H. Phillips, Bombardier,
Logan, WV
TSgt. Chester E. Matz, Radio Operator,
Wilkes-Barre, PA
TSgt. Charles H. Neville, Engineer,
Evansville, IN
SSgt. George J. Kacoyannakis, Asst. Engineer,
Tyrone, NY
SSgt. John T. Stough, Asst. Radio Operator,
Jeanette, PA
SSgt. Robert L. Dyson, Gunner, Dennison, OH
SSgt. Michael P. Falcone, Gunner, Bangor, PA
Gravesite Details
The collective grave site for 10-WW II soldiers including John T. Strough is in between 2-12 foot evergreen shrubs and is hard to find because it is a horizontal in ground marker.
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