A-20G-30 Havoc Aircraft Crash - Jefferson Barracks Cemetery - Lemay, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 30.010 W 090° 16.786
15S E 737217 N 4264819
Built by Douglas Aircraft Company. Delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) as A-20G-30 Havoc serial number 43-9469. Disassembled and shipped across the Pacific to Australia and reassembled.
Waymark Code: WM15TYZ
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 02/27/2022
Views: 0
County of memorial: St. Louis County
Location of memorial: Middle Dr. & Monument Dr., Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Lemay
Text on Memorial:
ARMY AIR FORCES
THOMAS E FREEMAN
Texas
2D Lieutenant
January 26 1921
Purple Heart
RALPH A McKENDRICK
Pennsylvania
Staff Sergeant
June 25 1921
Purple Heart
KILLED IN ACTION - NEW GUINEA - WWII - April 5, 1944
"On April 5, 1944 took off from Gusap Airfield piloted by 2nd Lt. Thomas E. Freeman with gunner Cpl Ralph A. McKendrick on a strike mission against Hollandia. Returning, this A-20 was observed to fall back from the formation, experiencing trouble with both engines, possibly fuel problems.
"Another A-20 piloted by 1st Lt. Glen D. Benskin flew to accompany it, and observed no obvious combat damage, only puffs of vapor from both engines, possibly from Freeman trying to switch fuel selectors. Unexpectedly, the A-20 nosed over and crash into the jungle, near the Clay River, short of a clearing and exploded on impact at approximately 1:30pm roughly 175 miles from Gusap, in the Ruin Mountain area. The crash was observed by Benskin who noted: "After the ship hit I couldn't even find broken treetops, the aircraft simply disappeared without a trace." When this aircraft failed to return it was officially listed as Missing In Action (MIA)." ~ Pacific Wrecks [link below]
At the time of the crash Freeman was a 2nd Lieutenant, and McKendrick was a Corporal. McKendrick received a promotion posthumously to Staff Sergeant.
"On December 2, 1969 both were interred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in a group burial at section 81 site 349." ~ Pacific Wrecks
"Early in the afternoon of April 5, 1944, an A-20 Havoc, wrestling with apparent engine trouble after an attack on the Japanese stronghold of Hollandia (present-day Jayapura, Indonesia), withdrew from formation and fell from the sky. It vanished into a thick jungle canopy, exploding on impact. On board were Second Lt. Thomas Freeman, 23, and Cpl. Ralph A. McKendrick, 22.
I visited and photographed this World War II crash site in 2019. But it wasn’t my first visit. That came in 1986, when I was 12 years old. My family had recently moved to Papua New Guinea to work with a Bible-translation organization — some 800 languages are spoken there — and, as part of our introduction to its life and culture, we lived for six weeks in a village called Likan, beside the Clay River in East Sepik Province. The wreck site was an hour’s hike from the village." ~ New York Times