Virgil Paul Kirkham was born on November 27, 1924 in Ohio. He attended 1 year of college before he joined the Regular Army in Lincoln, Nebraska on 2 March 1943 and served in the 377th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group as a First Lieutenant during World War II. He was piloting the P-47D-30 #44-89700 "Lady Jo-Ann II" when his plane crashed at Ujzed, Czech Republic. He is now buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France. He also has a memorial located at the crash site.
Statement from 2nd Lt Merrill E. Holland:
"I took off from home field flying Argue blue 4 position. Shortly after take-off Blue 2 called Argue leader Lt Kirkham, and said he was returning to the field because his prop was out. I then moved up to No. 2 position in the three ship flight. Lt Kirkham called the ground controller and received a target to be bombed, after which we were to run a close support, armed recon for some enemy tanks. We found several M/T in this area on a small road that was well hidden by trees. We began to shoot up these trucks, when Lt Kirkham made a law pass and his left wing appeared to hit the tree tops, which caused the plane to do a quarter roll and he went straight into a hill covered with trees. I saw his plane hit the ground, exploded immediately and burned. This accident was Southwest of Taus, Czechoslowakia, on 30 April 1945 at 1250 hours."
From Find a Grave:
This forest crash site of Lt. Virgil P. Kirkham, the last recorded American USAAF pilot killed in Europe during WWII. It was Lt. Kirkham's 82nd mission and one that he volunteered to go on.
At the time this 20 year old pilot's P-47 Thunderbolt plane was shot down, a young 14 year old Czech girl, Zdenky Sladkove, was so moved by his sacrifice she made a vow to care for him and his memory.
For 65 straight years , Zdenky, now 79 years old (2010), took on the responsibility to care for Virgil's crash site and memorial near her home.
On May 4th, 2010, she was recognized by the Mayor of Zdenky's home town of Trhanova, Czech Republic, for her sacrifice and extraordinary effort to honor this American hero.
Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov, www.fieldsofhonor-database.com