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Transcript:
Killian, Kenward Vincent, LTJG
Service Details: Last Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade
Years of Service
1942 - 1944
Service Status
USNR Active
Primary Unit
USS Hancock (CV-19)
Casualty Details: Casualty Date: Oct 14, 1944
Conflict: World War II
Location: Taiwan
Cause: KIA-Killed in Action
Reason: Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Year of Birth: 1920
Home State: Ohio
Home Town: Akron, OH
Place of Interment: Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Plot or Wall Location: Section: 34, Site: 1363
Oct 14, 1944
Lieutenant Junior Grade
Medals and Awards
Naval Aviator Wings
Unit Patches
VF-7
USS Hancock (CV-19)
Unit Assignments
1944-1944, 131X, VF-7
1944-1944, 00X, USS Hancock (CV-19)
Combat and Non-Combat Operations
1944-1944, World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater
Additional Information
Last Known Activity
Death and Burial
Kenward Vincent Killian was Killed in Action on 14 October 1944 when he was shot down while flying a bomber escort mission over Taien Airfield in Formosa (now Taiwan).
He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. Initially buried at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, he was reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, Section: 34, Site: 1363 on 15 July 1949.
Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Kenward Vincent Killian, United States Navy Reserve, Service Number: O-290496
Early Life
Kenward Vincent Killian was born on 12 June 1920 in Akron, Summit County, Ohio. His father, Edward Stephen Killian, born 6 December 1889 in Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio, died 6 March 1971 in Akron, Summit County, Ohio, was a Plant Supervisor at a rubber company. He was previously married and had two children; Kenward's half-siblings.
His mother, Clara Marie Porter, was born in 1894 in Ohio and died on 11 July 1964 in Akron, Summit County, Ohio. Kenward's parents were married in about 1919. Kenward was the eldest of three sons in the family.
His two younger brothers served during World War II. He was a graduate of Garfield High School in Akron, Ohio and a 1942 graduate of the Case School of Applied Science.
Military
Kenward Vincent Killian entered the U.S. Navy Reserve. He was a Naval Aviator. At the time of his death, he was assigned to Fighting (Fighter) Squadron Seven (VF-7) embarked aboard the Aircraft Carrier, USS Hancock (CV-19) operating in the Pacific Theater.
Fighter Squadron 7 or VF-7 was an aviation unit of the U.S. Navy, originally established on 3 January 1944; it was disestablished on 8 June 1946. It was the second US Navy squadron to be designated VF-7.
VF-7 equipped with the F6F-3 Hellcat was deployed as part of Carrier Air Group 7 (CVG-7) aboard the USS Hancock in the Atlantic Fleet. VF-7 re-equipped with the F6F-5 Hellcat at Naval Air Station Quonset in July 1944 and then reembarked on USS Hancock.
By September 1944 USS Hancock and CVG-7 had joined the Pacific Fleet. From February-September 1945 CVG-7 was shore-based at Naval Station Puget Sound and then Naval Air Station Astoria, Oregon.
K.V. KILLIAN 6-30-43
GUARANTEE: As with all my artifacts, this piece is guaranteed to be original, as described.
