James Joseph O’Neil was born Sept. 8, 1921 to Patrick Henry and Gertrude Allen Cooper O’Neil. He died June 15, 1945 and is buried in Ames Municipal Cemetery, Ames, IA.
Lt. O’Neil served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps and became a fghter pilot based in Australia, New Guinea Biak Island, Leyte and Mindoro. He was credited with downing three Japanese planes in aerial combat and accumulated four awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit and the Presidential Unit Citation. He spent 20 months in the Pacific Theater, acumulating 450 combat flying hours and participating in 182 aerial combat missions prior to his reassignment to the U.S.
He was assigned to Ontario, CA as an instructor and died in an airplane accident south of Riverside, CA after bailing out of a crippled P-38 fighter plane.
Source: ancestry.com
