Rubin Kichen as born on 11 January 1924 in Bronx, NY, son of David and Rebecca Kichen. He attended college for one year and on 19 October 1942 enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at New York City. He served in the 554th Bomb Squadron, 386th Bomber Group, Medium, as a Staff Sergeant and was a crew member on the B26 #41-31771 during World War II.

1st Lt. Joseph S. Benjamin was pilot of the B-26B-15 Marauder 41-31771 nicknamed “4F” on 16 February 1945. Mission number 335 was a bombing run on the Unna ordnance depot located east of Dortmund. The identification marking on this aircraft was RU-R. According the Missing Air Crew Report 12435, around 12:30 hours, the plane was hit by flak and caught fire. The pilot gave the order to bail. Kichen (Tail Gunner), Woody (Engineer/Gunner) and Staff Sgt. John Zitnyar, Jr. (Radio Operator/Gunner) were able to bail out. However, pilot Benjamin, co-pilot 2nd Lt. Henry F. McGrady, bombardier 2nd Lt. Harold S. Tiller, and Major John W. Meldrum who was an observer were all killed when the ship crashed 8 miles southwest of Coesfeld, Germany. It was completely destroyed but local citizens found several personal documents belonging to Harold S. Tiller. Kichen, Woody and Zitnyar were able to meet up but were later captured near Darfeld and sent to Dulag-Luft (Oberursol) on 18 February 1945. The four KIAs were buried in the Darfeld Church cemetery on 19 February 1945.

SSgt Kichen was taken as a prisoner and was taken to Stalag VIIA until General Patton's army liberated the camp. After the war, Rubin worked in New York as a draftsman and construction project manager. He came to Arizona in 1974 and had a 30-year career in local real estate. He died on 21 February 2010, at the age of 86, in Scottsdale, AZ and was buried in the National Memorial Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.fold3.com