Joseph Wirth was born in 1924 in Wisconsin. He resided in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin prior to the war. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps on September 24, 1942 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a Draftsmen and also as Single, without dependents. Joseph served as a Captain and Pilot on B-25 #43-3617, 22nd Bomber Squadron, 341st Bomber Group, Medium, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.

B-25 #43-3617 took off, with a crew of 7, from Yangkai Airfield, China on a low level strike mission attacking railroads in the vicinity of the coast of Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam. They crash landed, possibly due to ground anti-aircraft fiare, in a rice paddy near current day Lam Cau, Vietnam. Witness of this crash noted that 5 crewmen walked out of the plane carrying one other crewmen that was wounded which would mean that 1 crewmen died in the crash. It is also noted on the MACR that Capt. Wirth, S/Sgt. Brown, S/Sgt. Montes, and S/Sgt. Markham were captured and became POW's.

Joseph was declared "Missing In Action" in this crash during the war. However other info directly points to the fact that he "Died While A POW" of the Japanese sometime in June, 1945. He is noted as still being alive on June 1, 1945 by other POW's. His name is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines.

CPT Wirth 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 but death date is inscribed as 1945-05-29.

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