John Robert McGrath was born Nov. 4, 1923 to Everett Robert and Mary Frances Donly McGrath. He died June 6, 1944 and is memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing, Florence American Cemetery and Memorial, Florence, Italy. He has a cenotaph at Rose Hill Cemetery, Eagle Grove, IA.
Sgt. McGrath served as a gunner on B-24H, #42-52575, 782nd Bomber Squadron, 465th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He became MIA on a mission over Ploesti, Romania when the plane crashed into the Adriatic Sea just off the coast of Yugoslavia. He was later declared KIA and awarded an Air Medal and Purple Heart.
Sources: World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel from Iowa; ancestry.com
