James Robert "Jim" Feeney was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia on August 30,1919, but soon made his home in Buckhannon. He entered military service on March 29, 1942, as a private in the Army Air Corps. According to his NARA enlistment record, he had completed 1 year of college, (unnamed) and had been employed as a salesperson.

He arrived in September 1943 at Knettishall, England as a 2nd Lieutenant in charge of a replacement B-17 crew. He and his crew were assigned to the 562nd Bomb Squadron of the 388th Bomb Group. He flew 21 missions, but received credit for only 18 because of 2 aborts for failure to find assembly and formation in bad weather, and 1 for engine failure.

The crew was scheduled on February 10, 1944 to participate in a bombing mission on Brunswick, Germany. The Group put up 21 aircraft, but 3 aborts cut the formation to 18. Bombing was supposed to be PFF (radar) but weather conditions permitted visual aim and drop.

Flak and fighter resistance was moderate over the target, but a large number of enemy fighters engaged on the return home. The aircraft Lt. Feeney was piloting was struck by flak and finished off by fighters, according to some observers. The crew bailed out before the aircraft crashed near Uitgeest, Holland. Four of the crew were killed and seven were taken prisoner.

Although some of the dead were buried at the American Cemetery at Margraten, Holland, the American Battlefield Commission has no records of Lt. Feeney being there. It is possible his remains were transferred to the U.S. for family burial.

Parts of the crashed aircraft were recovered in 1985 and fashioned into a memorial for the crew.

Source of information: airforce.togetherweserved.com