Flight Engineer of B-24 42-94826, "Johnny Reb". A/C sustained severe damage from flak whilst attacking the target. The only operable controls were one rudder and elevator. The pilots and crew managed to nurse the aircraft back to the British Coast. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, the aircraft crashed at Park Farm near Arundel in West Sussex. Crew bailed 7 x RTD, 2 x MIA[ later KIA ] 1 x KIA. MACR 7550. Also killed in the crash were 2LT Pilot William Montgomery and Co-Pilot FO John Crowther. FO Crowther's remains were recovered from the crash site.
The crash site was largely forgotten about 2017, when farmer John Sellers - who witnessed the crash as a boy - contacted the authorities. Seventy-seven years after the crash, US veterans with the American Veterans Archaeological Recovery (AVAR) have teamed up with the University of York in an effort to recover any human remains from the site so that they can be repatriated back to the United States.
Awarded the Air Medal with 1 oak leaf cluster and the Purple Heart.∼Enlisted Jan. 9, 1940
+++++++++++++++++
ALTOONA MIRROR, MARCH 25, 2023
(photos on this memorial page accompanied this article)
"He Was Never Forgotten"
-- by William Kibler, staff writer
In mid-March, the Department of Defense announced that it had recovered the remains of a Ford City native who piloted a crippled B-24 bomber from Paris to the edge of England during World War II, enabling seven crew members to parachute to safety — before dying himself when the plane crashed in a field.
On Thursday, the department announced it had also recovered the remains of another Pennsylvania airman from much closer to Altoona, who died in the same crash: flight engineer John Holoka Jr. of Cresson.
-- For the entire article, see:
https://www.altoonamirror.com/news/local-news/2023/03/he-was-never-forgotten/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Air Forces Technical Sergeant John Holoka Jr., 25, of Cresson, Pennsylvania, killed during World War II, was accounted for Jan. 24, 2023.
In the summer of 1944, Holoka was assigned to the 844th Bombardment Squadron, 489th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Eighth Air Force. On June 22, Holoka was an engineer on a B-24H Liberator that was struck by anti-aircraft after a bombing raid on a German airfield in Saint-Cyr-l'École, near Versailles, France.
Despite the damage to the B-24 Liberator, the pilot was able to nurse the aircraft until it was over the English coast, whereupon he ordered his crew to bail out. Seven of the airmen parachuted successfully while the other three crew members, including Holoka, were still on board. Two of the crew witnessed the aircraft crashed into a farm in West Sussex, England.
Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. In November 1947, AGRC investigators searched the area of the crash site, but they did not discover the remains of any other crewmembers. Holoka was declared non-recoverable May 10, 1950.
A local aviation archaeology group attempted to excavate the crash site in 1974, to search for aircraft parts. A number of U.S. Department of Defense investigation and recovery efforts took place in 2017 and 2019, with a June 2021 recovery mission finding possible human remains and material evidence.
To identify Holoka's remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis as well as material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used dental, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome (Y-STR) analysis.
Holoka's name is recorded on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Cambridge, United Kingdom, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Holoka will be buried in Portage, Pennsylvania on May 1, 2023.
Contributor: SBR (49039178)
The crash site was largely forgotten about 2017, when farmer John Sellers - who witnessed the crash as a boy - contacted the authorities. Seventy-seven years after the crash, US veterans with the American Veterans Archaeological Recovery (AVAR) have teamed up with the University of York in an effort to recover any human remains from the site so that they can be repatriated back to the United States.
Awarded the Air Medal with 1 oak leaf cluster and the Purple Heart.∼Enlisted Jan. 9, 1940
+++++++++++++++++
ALTOONA MIRROR, MARCH 25, 2023
(photos on this memorial page accompanied this article)
"He Was Never Forgotten"
-- by William Kibler, staff writer
In mid-March, the Department of Defense announced that it had recovered the remains of a Ford City native who piloted a crippled B-24 bomber from Paris to the edge of England during World War II, enabling seven crew members to parachute to safety — before dying himself when the plane crashed in a field.
On Thursday, the department announced it had also recovered the remains of another Pennsylvania airman from much closer to Altoona, who died in the same crash: flight engineer John Holoka Jr. of Cresson.
-- For the entire article, see:
https://www.altoonamirror.com/news/local-news/2023/03/he-was-never-forgotten/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Air Forces Technical Sergeant John Holoka Jr., 25, of Cresson, Pennsylvania, killed during World War II, was accounted for Jan. 24, 2023.
In the summer of 1944, Holoka was assigned to the 844th Bombardment Squadron, 489th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Eighth Air Force. On June 22, Holoka was an engineer on a B-24H Liberator that was struck by anti-aircraft after a bombing raid on a German airfield in Saint-Cyr-l'École, near Versailles, France.
Despite the damage to the B-24 Liberator, the pilot was able to nurse the aircraft until it was over the English coast, whereupon he ordered his crew to bail out. Seven of the airmen parachuted successfully while the other three crew members, including Holoka, were still on board. Two of the crew witnessed the aircraft crashed into a farm in West Sussex, England.
Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. In November 1947, AGRC investigators searched the area of the crash site, but they did not discover the remains of any other crewmembers. Holoka was declared non-recoverable May 10, 1950.
A local aviation archaeology group attempted to excavate the crash site in 1974, to search for aircraft parts. A number of U.S. Department of Defense investigation and recovery efforts took place in 2017 and 2019, with a June 2021 recovery mission finding possible human remains and material evidence.
To identify Holoka's remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis as well as material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used dental, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome (Y-STR) analysis.
Holoka's name is recorded on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Cambridge, United Kingdom, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Holoka will be buried in Portage, Pennsylvania on May 1, 2023.
Contributor: SBR (49039178)
Flight Engineer of B-24 42-94826, "Johnny Reb". A/C sustained severe damage from flak whilst attacking the target. The only operable controls were one rudder and elevator. The pilots and crew managed to nurse the aircraft back to the British Coast. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, the aircraft crashed at Park Farm near Arundel in West Sussex. Crew bailed 7 x RTD, 2 x MIA[ later KIA ] 1 x KIA. MACR 7550. Also killed in the crash were 2LT Pilot William Montgomery and Co-Pilot FO John Crowther. FO Crowther's remains were recovered from the crash site.
The crash site was largely forgotten about 2017, when farmer John Sellers - who witnessed the crash as a boy - contacted the authorities. Seventy-seven years after the crash, US veterans with the American Veterans Archaeological Recovery (AVAR) have teamed up with the University of York in an effort to recover any human remains from the site so that they can be repatriated back to the United States.
Awarded the Air Medal with 1 oak leaf cluster and the Purple Heart.∼Enlisted Jan. 9, 1940
+++++++++++++++++
ALTOONA MIRROR, MARCH 25, 2023
(photos on this memorial page accompanied this article)
"He Was Never Forgotten"
-- by William Kibler, staff writer
In mid-March, the Department of Defense announced that it had recovered the remains of a Ford City native who piloted a crippled B-24 bomber from Paris to the edge of England during World War II, enabling seven crew members to parachute to safety — before dying himself when the plane crashed in a field.
On Thursday, the department announced it had also recovered the remains of another Pennsylvania airman from much closer to Altoona, who died in the same crash: flight engineer John Holoka Jr. of Cresson.
-- For the entire article, see:
https://www.altoonamirror.com/news/local-news/2023/03/he-was-never-forgotten/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Air Forces Technical Sergeant John Holoka Jr., 25, of Cresson, Pennsylvania, killed during World War II, was accounted for Jan. 24, 2023.
In the summer of 1944, Holoka was assigned to the 844th Bombardment Squadron, 489th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Eighth Air Force. On June 22, Holoka was an engineer on a B-24H Liberator that was struck by anti-aircraft after a bombing raid on a German airfield in Saint-Cyr-l'École, near Versailles, France.
Despite the damage to the B-24 Liberator, the pilot was able to nurse the aircraft until it was over the English coast, whereupon he ordered his crew to bail out. Seven of the airmen parachuted successfully while the other three crew members, including Holoka, were still on board. Two of the crew witnessed the aircraft crashed into a farm in West Sussex, England.
Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. In November 1947, AGRC investigators searched the area of the crash site, but they did not discover the remains of any other crewmembers. Holoka was declared non-recoverable May 10, 1950.
A local aviation archaeology group attempted to excavate the crash site in 1974, to search for aircraft parts. A number of U.S. Department of Defense investigation and recovery efforts took place in 2017 and 2019, with a June 2021 recovery mission finding possible human remains and material evidence.
To identify Holoka's remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis as well as material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used dental, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome (Y-STR) analysis.
Holoka's name is recorded on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Cambridge, United Kingdom, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Holoka will be buried in Portage, Pennsylvania on May 1, 2023.
Contributor: SBR (49039178)
The crash site was largely forgotten about 2017, when farmer John Sellers - who witnessed the crash as a boy - contacted the authorities. Seventy-seven years after the crash, US veterans with the American Veterans Archaeological Recovery (AVAR) have teamed up with the University of York in an effort to recover any human remains from the site so that they can be repatriated back to the United States.
Awarded the Air Medal with 1 oak leaf cluster and the Purple Heart.∼Enlisted Jan. 9, 1940
+++++++++++++++++
ALTOONA MIRROR, MARCH 25, 2023
(photos on this memorial page accompanied this article)
"He Was Never Forgotten"
-- by William Kibler, staff writer
In mid-March, the Department of Defense announced that it had recovered the remains of a Ford City native who piloted a crippled B-24 bomber from Paris to the edge of England during World War II, enabling seven crew members to parachute to safety — before dying himself when the plane crashed in a field.
On Thursday, the department announced it had also recovered the remains of another Pennsylvania airman from much closer to Altoona, who died in the same crash: flight engineer John Holoka Jr. of Cresson.
-- For the entire article, see:
https://www.altoonamirror.com/news/local-news/2023/03/he-was-never-forgotten/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Air Forces Technical Sergeant John Holoka Jr., 25, of Cresson, Pennsylvania, killed during World War II, was accounted for Jan. 24, 2023.
In the summer of 1944, Holoka was assigned to the 844th Bombardment Squadron, 489th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Eighth Air Force. On June 22, Holoka was an engineer on a B-24H Liberator that was struck by anti-aircraft after a bombing raid on a German airfield in Saint-Cyr-l'École, near Versailles, France.
Despite the damage to the B-24 Liberator, the pilot was able to nurse the aircraft until it was over the English coast, whereupon he ordered his crew to bail out. Seven of the airmen parachuted successfully while the other three crew members, including Holoka, were still on board. Two of the crew witnessed the aircraft crashed into a farm in West Sussex, England.
Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. In November 1947, AGRC investigators searched the area of the crash site, but they did not discover the remains of any other crewmembers. Holoka was declared non-recoverable May 10, 1950.
A local aviation archaeology group attempted to excavate the crash site in 1974, to search for aircraft parts. A number of U.S. Department of Defense investigation and recovery efforts took place in 2017 and 2019, with a June 2021 recovery mission finding possible human remains and material evidence.
To identify Holoka's remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis as well as material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used dental, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome (Y-STR) analysis.
Holoka's name is recorded on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Cambridge, United Kingdom, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Holoka will be buried in Portage, Pennsylvania on May 1, 2023.
Contributor: SBR (49039178)
Inscription
844th Bomber Squadron, 489th Bomber Group, Heavy
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Pennsylvania.
Family Members
Other Records
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