2LT John J K C Kim, First Allied Airmen KIA on Vis- 27th Fighter Squadron
Details:
At the entrance of the future museum.
MonumentA concrete memorial with an inscribed marble plaque.
On April 12, 1944, Second Lieutenant John J. K. C. Kim of the 27th Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter Group, flew his P-38 Lightning fighter from Salsola, Italy, escorting 140 B-24 bombers on a mission to bomb a aircraft factory at Bad Voslau, Austria; it was his second combat mission.
The mission was successful. On the return flight, low on fuel, Lt. Kim was forced to land at the emergency airstrip on Vis which had become operational for fighters just one day earlier.
After refueling, he attempted to take off. One engine failed. The aircraft lost altitude and crashed on the Vis-Komia road, near an ammunition dump and Partisan positions. An explosion and fire erupted. A British soldier pulled the badly burned pilot from the wreckage. The crash killed eight Yugoslav Partisans and injured twenty more. Three of the injured later died. Eleven Partisans lost their lives that day.
Lt. Kim was treated at the Podhumlje field hospital by British doctor. He died of his injuries two days later, on April 14, 1944. He was 25 years old.
John J. K. C. Kim became the first American airman to die on Vis in World War II.
His interred at the Milna Allied Military Cemetery until he was repatriated to the US. (See Site: Podstrazje, Anglo-American WW2 Mllna Cemetery Monument)
For more information on this memorial and the Allied efforts on the Island of Vis, Croatia during WW2, see the Vis WW2 Memorial Center website: https://vismemorialcenter.org
Source: https://vismemorialcenter.org
Monument Text:
The text on the plaque is written in Croatioan and English. The English reads:
THIS MEMORIAL PLAQUE MARKS THE SITE OF THE FIRST ALLIED AIRMAN FATALITY ON VIS AIRFIELD DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. ON 12 APRIL 1944, A P-38 LIGHTNING FIGHTER AIRCRAFT CRASHED UPON TAKE-OFF, KILLING THE PILOT, 2ND LT. JOHN J. K. C. KIM, A MEMBER OF THE U.S. 15TH AIR FORCE, AND FIGHTERS OF THE 1ST DALMATIAN BRIGADE OF THE NOVJ: GRIGORI PELAJNOG ALPOZIJEV, PETAR BOHOROVIÉ, PETAR BUKUROVIS, NIKO CULAR, SPIRO GRGANTOV, IVAN JUKIÉ, SLAVKO KALEBIG, VINKO KLARIÉ, IVAN KOKEZA, PAVAO MLADINEO AND IVAN SKORIC.
WE ERECT THIS PLAQUE IN THEIR MEMORY, AND IN MEMORY
OF ALLTHE OTHERS WHO PERISHED OR WENT MISSING
AND AS A TRIBUTE TO THE MORE THAN 4,000 ALLIED AIRMEN RESCUED ON AND AROUND VIS DURING 1944 AND 1945.
CROATIAN SOCIETY FOR MILITARY HISTORY AND THE TOWN OF VIS
Vis, 5th of July 2024
