George Joseph Peretti was born on December 25, 1922, in Hiteman, Iowa, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Peretti. The family moved to Benld, Illinois when he was young, and later moved to Collinsville, Illinois. He attended grade school in Benld, and graduated from Collinsville High School.

He was employed as a machinist at the Curtiss Wright Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri until his entrance into the military. He received basic training at Camp Fresno, California, and then was accepted into the Pilot Training Program. He graduated from this course and received his pilot's wings along with a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant at Pecos Army Air Field in April, 1944. After completing combat crew training, he was assigned to the 337th Bomb Squadron of the 96th Bomb Group, operating from Snetterton, England where he served as a Pilot of the B17 #44-6137 "The Abortion Queen" aircraft.

On January 29, 1945, while attempting assembly into a bomber stream scheduled to raid the marshalling railway yards at Bielefeld, Germany, his aircraft collided with that of Lt. Alex Phillipovich. Both aircraft exploded and crashed approximately 1/2 miles southeast of the airdrome. All 18 crew members aboard the 2 craft were killed.

2LT Peretti is now buried in the Saint John Cemetery, Collinsville, Madison County, Illinois, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com