260867 S/Sgt. Joseph Charles Lynch USAAF 338th Bomb Squadron from:Altoona, East Juniata, Blair, PA (d.17th Oct 1942) I never knew my Uncle Joe Lynch as I was three and a half years old when he died. He was my mother’s youngest brother, and I know his death affected her greatly, especially since her husband Merwyn had died in an accident just a few short months before. I don't remember his funeral or burial but I remember being told the story that upon hearing of his death my Uncle Bill McIntosh on his way back from buying a gallon of beer, dropped the beer on the sidewalk.
A local newspaper, the Altoona Mirror, reported the following about his death in October 1942:
“Staff Sgt. Joseph Charles Lynch, 23, of Cresson, Pennsylvania was among 11 aviators who lost their lives in the crash of a four-engined bomber in New Mexico. The plane had departed from its base in Rapid City, South Dakota and was on a routine flight.
Born in Amsbry, Pennsylvania on 9 August 1919, S/Sgt. Lynch was a graduate of Cresson High School (class of 1938) and later enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Camp at Hiner, Clearfield County. Later, he was employed in Altoona, Pennsylvania by the Hoffman Ice Cream Co. He was inducted into the Army in October, 1941. Five days after reporting to the New Cumberland Induction Center, he was granted a release that allowed him to enlist in the Army Air Corps. He subsequently graduated from a training course at Kessler Field, Mississippi, and on 31st of June 1942, he graduated as a flexible gunner from Tyndall Field, Florida. He was transferred to the air base at Rapid City just three weeks before the crash. He had been assigned to the 338th Bomb Squadron as a crew member of the "Nippon Miss", a B-17E Flying Fortress bomber. The crash occurred in the early morning hours. It was reportedly very windy and foggy that morning, and the plane was off course. They unknowingly flew into the side of a mountain.”
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