63 – Robert B. O’Hara age 23 (March 11, 1920 – November 11, 1943)
2Lt. Robert Bernard O’Hara
March 11, 1920 – November 11, 1943
Robert Bernard O’Hara was born on March 11, 1920 in Scranton, Lackawanna County Pennsylvania. His father was John B. O’Hara and his mother Virginia L. Lazeby. In 1932 he left primary school and attended the high school he completed in 1937. He went to work as a prospective salesman in his father’s company. He lived at 6920 Turtle Creek Dallas in the state of Texas. At the end of 1942 he enlisted in the United States Air Force (USAAF) and trained as a pilot. Early september 1943 he went to England where he was assigned to the 8th Air Force, 94th Bomber Group (Heavy), 331st Bomber Squadron. He was assigned as a pilot to a B-17 Flying Fortress. On November 11, 1943, the crew of the B-17 with registration number 42-39868, including 2/Lt. O’Hara, was ordered to attack the city of Munster in Germany with 560 more bombers. After the briefing, the plane took off from the R.A.F. base Bury Saint Edmund towards Germany. They arrived at the goal via the North Sea and the middle of Germany. They dropped their bombs and returned to home base. However, above the Hoeksche Waard the aircraft was attacked by three German fighter planes. The plane was hit and the left engine failed. Moments later, the entire plane was riddled. The pilot gave the order to abandon the plane, but it broke into two pieces and the front part was on fire. The pieces of the aircraft landed in the Molenpolder close to the old harbor in Numansdorp. Four crew members had left the aircraft of which three were taken prisoner, the fourth came down in the Hollandsch Diep and his body is still missing. The other six were unable to leave the plane in time and died. Also 2nd Lieutenant Robert Bernhard O’Hara. He was buried on September 27, 1943 at the Crooswijk cemetery in Rotterdam and on August 17, 1945 transferred to the American cemetery at Margraten Limburg where he was buried on plot B row 4 grave 22. There is his to visit the grave.
Cemetary Margraten
