1st Lt. James Rowe Cleland
Born: 4 May 1923 – Illinois
Parents: Dewitt N. Cleland and Margaret A. Rowe-Cleland
Home:
– 2102 South Tenth Avenue – Maywood, Illinois
Siblings: 1 sister
Education:
– Lincoln Grade School
– Proviso Township High School
– Class of 1940
– Northwestern University
– left after two years
Selective Service Registration:
– did not register
Enlisted:
– 8 April 1942 – entered the Army Air Corps as an enlisted man
– attended Officer Candidate School
Serial Number: O&747214
Training:
– pilot
Unit: United States Army Air Corps
Engagements:
– missions over Italy & Austria
Killed in Action:
– 25 February 1944 – bomber shot down over Austria
– February 1945 – declared dead
Buried:
– 14 April 1950 – Grafton National Cemetery – Grafton, West Virginia
– Section: A Site: 4
– mass grave for the members of his bomber’s crew
Note: Since the remains of individual members of the crew could not be positively identified, the Army buried the crew members in a centrally located grave. Each family lived approximately the same distance from the grave.
