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.
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