US Army Air Corps 1st Lt. Dick D. Connelly was born in Agency, Wapello County, Iowa on December 23, 1921, the son of Joe John Hugh Connelly (1896-1979) and Ruth Elinor Wheaton (1897-1926). His father was a farmer in 1920 in Wapello County and an insurance salesman in 1930 and 1940 in Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa. He married Ruth in 1919 in Wapello County and settled down there to raise their family.
His son Dick, would attend local schools until he graduated from Ottumwa High School in 1939. Within just a few months the world was thrown into another world war when Germany invaded Poland. After high school he went to work for the Harper & McIntire Company, a local wholesale hardware store. As patriotism spread over the nation following Pearl Harbor, Dick went to the recruiter's office and enlisted in the US Army Air Corps in October 1942. He was sent to flight training in Waycross, Georgia where he went through nine weeks of primary flying school. There, they were taught the basic concepts of flying before graduating and moving on to more advanced schools. Here, he would win his wings on September 30, 1943.
Another milestone reached in Waycross was his marriage to a young Pensacolian, Miss Maxine Amanda Kern (1925-2014). She was a graduate of Pensacola High School in the Class of 1943 and a student at Florida State College for Women majoring in music. She was the daughter of Edward Evans Kern Sr. (1892-1965) and Amanda Jane "Mandy" McCurdy (1891-1987). Her father was a sheet metal worker at NAS in 1930 as well as a musician for the 13th C. A. Band at Fort Barrancas in 1934 and for the WPA in 1940. During WWI, he was a US Navy 1st Class Musician Mate who enlisted on March 27, 1917 in Philadelphia. He was stationed in Norfolk before transferring to the USS New Hampshire from April 1917 until his discharge in August 1919. While aboard, he performed convoy duty making seven trips across the Atlantic during the war. He would retire from civil service at NAS. Dick and Maxine were married in Waycross on December 27, 1943 with one child resulting from this union, Jan Elinor Connelly born on December 3, 1944. Sadly, Jan and her father would never see each other in their lifetime!
When all of his training was completed, he was sent overseas and upon arrival in England on May 26, 1944 was assigned to the 370th Fighter Squadron attached to 359th Fighter Group with the 8th Air Force. His new squadron was flying out of the Royal Air Force airfield at East Wretham Station (Station #133). Flying his P-51 Mustang fighter named "De De III," he flew constant missions supporting the ground troops fighting their way across France. On September 12th, he was escorting bombers on a mission to Brux when enemy fighters roared in to intercept them. Connelly engaged the incoming aircraft and shot down one ME-109 and one FW-190 in a fierce dogfight. Five days later, he had a field day against the Nazis near the Seine River in France. In all, he destroyed one Nazi army staff car, six rail cars on a railroad siding, one large convoy truck and two flak towers riddled with hundreds of his .50 caliber shells.
On another mission on November 1st, his squadron shot down 200 Nazi fighters. Hundreds of Allied bombers were flying below them when the enemy fighters came in. Connelly stated he got on the tail of a ME-109 and closed to about 200 hundred yards before firing his cannon. His slugs hit him from the middle of the left wing, across the canopy and cockpit to the middle of the right wing. The enemy pilot rolled over wildly and started down. Connelly followed him down for a few seconds before he went into a spin and crashed head on into the ground and exploded. This would be Connelly’s third and last kill.
On November 26th, Dick was sitting around talking with his squadron mates about the next day's mission. He told them that he believed he would not be coming back the next day. He further stated, “I won’t be killed or anything but it sure will be hell having to jump (parachute) on my last ride.” On the morning of November 27th, he told his comrades of the 370th: “Get the guy that gets me!”. They took off that morning from their airfield at East Wretham Station and flew to Ehlen, Germany for a strafing mission. As they began diving down and attacking their targets, they heard Connelly state that he was going in to strafe. A moment later he remarked, “The son of a bitch has shot me down. I’m getting out.” Nothing else was ever heard from him. Connelly failed to return from the mission and was listed as missing in action. Later information revealed that he had crashed near Hoenebach, Germany at 1230 hours. He was the only loss of the mission.
His remains were later recovered and buried in the Lorraine Military Cemetery in St. Avold, France. Back home, Maxine and his family were notified that he was missing in action in January 1945 and by March they were told that he had been killed in action. Afterwards, Maxine dedicated her life to the raising of their only daughter Jan however, she would marry again to Dorrance Elbert Hightower (1926-2010) in 1947.
























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