William F. Quirke, Jr. was born in 1919 in Massachusetts. He served in the 793rd Bomb Squadron, 468th Bomb Group as a Staff Sergeant during World War II. Staff Sergeant Quirke was a tail gunner aboard B-29-1-BN Superfortress (Tail No. 42-93826) on a bombing mission to Yawata on June 15-16, 1944. In July 1944 it was reported that the aircraft had crashed into a mountain 200 miles from Cheng-tu, China and the entire crew were killed, and buried by the Chinese. The entire crew was reinterred at Fort McPherson National Cemetery, Nebraska on February 1, 1950. He was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

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