To the right of the nave.

A glass-framed testimonial including a photograph of 2Lt Ahern from the CO (Col. Lyle) of the 379th Bomb Group, acknowledging the thanks of the villagers for the self-sacrifice of one of his pilots. It is printed in English in black lettering. On top of the message is the insignia of the 379^th Bomb Group. 

A few days before Christmas 1944, during the Second World War, Lieut. John Joseph Ahern, Jr., a 22-year-old U.S. Army Air Corps pilot found his B-17G Bomber (ser. #44-8275) had got into difficulties. He directed his crew to bail out, saying he would follow them when the plane was past the houses in Bozeat. He was never to follow his crew, for after clearing the houses of Bozeat, he was killed when the aircraft crashed. It came down in a field behind Red Gables Farm occupied by Mr. Cyril Drage. The farm buildings were damaged by the blast, but the farmer's family was unharmed. In gratitude to Lieut. John Ahern, who thus gave his life for Bozeat, the villagers made a house-to-house collection for his mother in America, organized by the members of the Women's Voluntary Service. The American Air Force showed their appreciation of the village's act by presenting a plaque to the Church in memory of this episode of the war. Four hundred people gathered in the Church when the plaque was handed over by an American Air Force chaplain. The chaplain took part in the service, which was conducted by the Vicar, the Rev. S.F.W. Powell, and the lesson was read by Rev. E. Hardwick, the Methodist Minister.

John Ahern's plane, B-17G-VE #44-8275, had first been assigned to the 96th Bomb Group, 338th Bomb Squadron at Snetterton before being transferred to the 379th at Kimbolton on September 26, 1944. On December 16, 1944, Ahern and his crew took off from Kimbolton on a bombing mission to the Stuttgart Marshalling Yards and then to Bietingheim. Soon after take-off and during the attempted rendezvous with the other bombers, they had some difficulty and were headed for a crash landing. Ahern ordered the crew to bail out while he stayed at the controls long enough to pass over the village of Bozeat. He was killed in the crash. The eight other aircrews survived, but most were lost on subsequent missions.

The surviving crew members were: 1st Lieutenant Frederick W. Barley, co-pilot; Flight Officer Thomas W. Ramsey, navigator; and Sergeants Whitney J. Reese, Fred E. Estlinbaum, Warren C. Barlow, Saul L. Ancelet, John W. Cox, and William J. Watkins.

Source of information: Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register, homepages.rootsweb.com/~aherns

Source of photos: homepages.rootsweb.com/~aherns, Google Maps