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Boger John Daniel

Name:
John Daniel Boger
Rank:
Captain
Serial Number:
O-415487
Unit:
1345th Army Air Force Base Unit
Date of Death:
1945-01-05
State:
North Carolina
Cemetery:
Manila American Cemetery, Taguig, Philippines
Plot:
Walls of the Missing
Row:
Grave:
Decoration:
Comments:

John Daniel Boger, second son of Charles E. Boger and Elise Barnhardt Boger, was born at the Jackson Training School near Concord, NC, where his father was superintendent. He attended schools in Concord, and received a B.S. in Textile Chemistry from NC State.

Following graduation he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and trained with the Gulf Coast Command as pilot of a B-24 Liberator. He attained the rank of captain and at one time acted as part of an honor guard for President Franklin Roosevelt. Assigned to train pilots, he sought and secured an overseas appointment, and in December 1944 was sent to the China-Pacific area. On his third mission, while carrying fuel supplies over the Himalayan "hump" from India to China in an effort to aid Chiang Kai-shek, his plane and crew were lost and never recovered.

The aircraft, C-109 #44-49235 , belonged to the Air Transport Command, 1345th Army Air Force Base Unit at Tezgaon, India. It left Kurmitola India for a routine transport flight over The Hump to a destination of Chengkung, China 5 January 1945. The weather was reported clear at 500 ft that day to 20,000ft. A witness statement given by 1st Lt Louis D 'Lou' Foglia reported to have made radio contact with the aircraft at Chabua, India. The aircraft disappeared after this, with no known cause. A search conducted under the command of Capt. Joseph H. Chuse, Base Rescue Officer, was unsuccessful in locating the missing ship or its crew.

A cenotaph was placed in the Boger family plot in Oakwood Cemetery in Concord. He is also listed on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. John was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is also commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov