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NAME John Junior Kuipers |
NICKNAME — |
SERVICE NUMBER 313507 |
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| UNIT VMSB-131 Turret Gunner |
HOME OF RECORD 63 Caroline Place Northeast Grand Rapids, MI |
NEXT OF KIN Parents, George & Cornelia Kuipers |
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| DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1922 in Grand Rapids, MI |
ENTERED SERVICE June 2, 1941 in Detroit, MI |
DATE OF LOSS April 8, 1943 |
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| REGION Solomon Islands |
CAMPAIGN / AREA Russell Island Group |
CASUALTY TYPE Missing In Action Declared Dead April 9, 1945 |
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| CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS Sergeant John J. Kuipers was an Avenger turret gunner assigned to VMSB-131, a torpedo bomber squadron operating out of Henderson Field, Guadalcanal. On 8 April 1943, Captain William Hayter led six of the squadron’s planes in a strike against Kahili, Bougainville. The Avengers ran into a fierce storm and never reached the target. Only one bomber returned to Guadalcanal – the rest, including Sergeant Kuipers’ TBF-1 05985, disappeared.* Rescue operations located three survivors stranded in the Russell Islands, but no trace of John Kuipers or his crewmates – radio operator PFC Robert A. Baum or pilot Lt. Gordon B. Nuzum – was ever found. All three Marines were declared dead on 9 April 1945. |
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| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS Air Medal, Purple Heart |
LAST KNOWN RANK Sergeant |
STATUS OF REMAINS Not recovered. |
MEMORIALS Manila American Cemetery |
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* Some sources list this aircraft’s Bureau Number as 23985.
Biography:
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April 8 1943
Six planes take off at 0200 along with other TBFs from Navy squadrons to bomb Kahili Airfield. The weather report received was not too good and the Black Cats on the weather hops reported very bad flying conditions. Someone slipped up as the flight was ordered out anyhow. Capt. Richey became separated from the other five planes in the flight and returned hours after experiencing considerable difficulty in locating the field. Our other five planes did not return and were listed as missing. Out of the eighteen Navy plans participating in this attack, four were unable to take off, seven became lost and returned early, while five reached the target, dropping on what they thought to be the field, and two did not return. VMSB-131 has been hard hit and we were a dejected lot when there were no reports whatsoever of our pilots and gunners. Searches were immediately started with our TBFs and the other outfits cooperated also giving good coverage of the entire area. All searches were negative.– excerpt from the war diary of VMSB-131, April 1943.
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