John Duke Eberhart was born at Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska on May 21, 1923. His parents were Percy Allen Eberhart (5 Jul 1887 – 14 Jun 1926), who was born at Bradshaw, York County, Nebraska; and Elta Pearl (Stryker) Eberhart Jess (24 Aug 1887 – 8 Sep 1964), who was born at Benedict, York County, Nebraska. His parents married at Lincoln, Nebraska on February 17, 1915. He had a brother, Donald Rex Eberhart (2 Dec 1915 – 25 May 2003). His father died in 1926. In 1940 he lived with his mother and brother at 342 South 18th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska, and his mother ran a rooming house. His brother Donald was a sign painter, and he was a paper boy for a newspaper. By 1944 his mother married Albert Jacob 'Al' Jess (21 Dec 1879 – 30 Jan 1969), and lived at the same residence in Lincoln, Nebraska.

He completed one year of college and worked as an author, editor, or reporter at the State Journal newspaper on P Street in Lincoln, Nebraska. He registered for the draft at Lincoln on June 30, 1942. He was 6 feet tall, weighed 157 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair. He was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Omaha, Nebraska on November 9, 1942.

He completed Army Air Forces radio operator and aerial gunnery training, and was assigned as radio operator on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Lloyd W. Kersten. The Kersten crew completed B-17 operational training at Dyersburg Army Air Base, Tennessee, and was assigned to the 836th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. The crew arrived at Station 137 by July 24, 1944, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

T/Sgt Eberhart and six of his crewmates were killed in action on November 30, 1944, when their aircraft, B-17G 43-37877, was shot down by flak. The target was the large I. G. Farben synthetic oil refinery at Leuna near Merseburg, Germany. As the 487th Bomb Group formation approached the initial point of the bomb run near Triptis, the radar set in the lead ship malfunctioned, and the deputy lead ship took over the lead for a visual run. The bombardier in that ship couldn't pick out the Leuna refinery through the smokescreen and the flak, so he chose to drop on what was thought to be a refinery in the vicinity of Zeitz. At 1:15 PM, just after bombs away, Lt Kersten's B-17 received direct flak hits and went down in the vicinity of Theiίen, just north of Zeitz, Germany. Lt Hyland and Lt Ritchhart bailed out before the aircraft exploded, and survived as prisoners of war. The bombs struck the eastern outskirts of Zeitz, about 19 miles southeast of the assigned target.

T/Sgt Eberhartwas buried by German Police at the town cemetery of Deuben, Germany on December 5, 1944. His remains were disinterred at Deuben in July 1945, and moved to the U.S. Military Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France—now called Lorraine American Cemetery—where they were permanently reinterred. He also has a cenotaph in his parents' plot at Greenwood Cemetery in York, York County, Nebraska.

B-17G 43-37877 crew:
• Kersten, Lloyd W – 1/Lt – Pilot – KIA
• Gerland, Henry E – 1/Lt – Copilot – KIA
• Hyland Jr, James W – 1/Lt – Navigator – POW
• Ritchhart, Warren H – 1/Lt – Bombardier – POW
• Eberhart, John D – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Shegal, Arnold R – T/Sgt – Engineer – KIA
• Morrison, Everett S – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – KIA
• Sullivan, Maurice J – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – KIA
• Miller, Joseph M – S/Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA

Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov