Marion L. KIRKHAM
USAAF



THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE SIR

Lt. Virgil Paul Kirkham is one of the soldiers that paid the ultimate price for freedom. On April 30, 1945, only six days before the Liberation, Virgil was shot down over Ujezd, a village not far from Pilsen. He was just 20 years old.   But he has not been forgotten by the people he was fighting for. Zdenka Sladkova, a young girl who lived in the village, still remembers the fiery crash. She helped build a memorial using parts from his plane, and spent years searching for Virgil’s family. I am happy to say that Zdenka found them. To this day, she and Virgil’s family share a special bond.

Virgil Kirkham's brother Marion Kirkham and his daughter and granddaughter where at Pilsen to honnor their brother, uncle and greatuncle. Marion recalls that Virgil begged his parents to be allowed to quit college to join the Army Air Force.



REMEMBER THEM
1st. Lt. Virgil Paul KIRKHAM, 377th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group, 9th USAAF
Killed In Action on April 30,1945 at aged 20

This is the crash site of Lt. Virgil P. Kirkham, the last recorded American USAAF pilot killed in Europe during WWII. It was Lt. Kirkham's 82nd mission and one that he volunteered to go on. A 14 year-old Czech girl, Zdenka Sladkova, was so impressed by the young American’s sacrifice to liberate her country that she has tended a small memorial at the site for 70 years.

Virgil Paul Kirkham was born on 27th November 1924 in Troutdale, Oregon, the son of William Cory and Mary Elizabeth Rayburn Kirkham. He joined the USAAF on the 3rd March 1943 and trained as Fighter Pilot. Kirkham was assigned to the 377th Fighter Squadron, which at the time was serving with the 8th USAAF in Europe. The primary mission of the unit was bomber escort and fighter sweeps, but after D-Day, the P-47s were utilized in ground attack mode as fighter bombers. As a result of the mission change, the 377th Fighter Squadron moved from RAF Headcorn to Lignerolles, France, and then to Furth/Industriehafen Airfield, Germany.

On 30th April 1945 Lt. Kirkham took-off on his 82nd combat mission, and what was to be the last operational sortie of the 362nd Fighter Group. He was piloting a P-47D Thunderbolt (44-89700) nicknamed “Lady Jo-Ann II”. The target was German armoured vehicles in Czechoslovakia. Near the towns of Trhanov/Ujezd, which is some 66 Km from the city of Pilsen, Kirkham and his flight were positioning themselves for an attack on a column of armoured cars and tanks when they came under intense anti-aircraft fire. In attempting to evade the low-altitude flak Kirkham swerved his aircraft from side to side but was hit in the face by German small arms fire and the wing tip of his P-47 hit a tree, cartwheeled into the ground, exploded, and burned. His body was retrieved by local citizens and buried near the crash site just outside Klencin. He was later moved to the Lorraine American Cemetery where he lies today. Lt. Kirkham was the last American fighter pilot to be killed in Europe in World War II. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.