Joseph J. Conlon was born on March 6, 1925, in Altoona, Blair County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Richard J. Conlon and Auddress Marguerite Pennington Conlon. He was the husband of Dorothy Josephine Krug Conlon. He attended Mount Carmel Catholic Grade School before graduating from Altoona Catholic High School in 1943. While still in his senior year, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces and entered active service in April 1943. On October 28, 1943, he received his commission as a second lieutenant and earned his bombardier wings. He was later assigned to the 460th Bomb Group of the Fifteenth U.S. Army Air Force in Italy, where he began flying combat missions on April 13, 1944. After being wounded in action on May 18, 1944, he spent five weeks recovering in a field hospital before returning to active combat duty.

On June 30, 1944, the aircraft based at Spinazzola Airfield near Foggia, Italy, was shot down during a bombing mission to the South Synthetic Oil Refinery at Blechhammer, Germany. While flying near Lake Balaton, Hungary, the bomber formation encountered heavy enemy fighter opposition and poor weather conditions over the Balaton region, which forced the formation to alter its course and left it vulnerable to attack. During the engagement, the aircraft was hit by gunfire from a German Messerschmitt Me 410A of ZG 76/2. Hungarian fighter activity in the area was also reported during the battle. The Liberator crashed near Szigliget at approximately 10:50 AM. Five of the ten crew members were killed in the crash, while the remaining five successfully bailed out, were captured as prisoners of war, and were later released in 1945.

2Lt Conlon successfully bailed out of the aircraft but was captured and held as a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft I in Barth-Vogelsang, Prussia. Following the war, Conlon returned to the United States and attended Pennsylvania State College through the GI Bill, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He began his long career in education at Roaring Spring High School, where he served as a teacher, coach, and administrator within the Roaring Spring and Spring Cove school districts until his retirement in December 1987. He died on September 29, 2015, and is now buried in the Greenlawn Cemetery, Roaring Spring, Blair County, Pennsylvania, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, airbase.blog.hu, www.15thaf.org