KERR, Maurice J

KERR

Posted By: Nancy (email)
Date: 2/13/2003 at 22:17:21

May 10, 1945 Morning Sun News-Herald. I am not related and have no further information.

Lt. Maurice Kerr Killed in Action
Previously Reported Missing.

Lt. Maurice J. Kerr, who has been reported missing in action as of March 25, now has been officially declared killed in action by the War Department. Lt. Kerr, pilot of an artillery observation plane over the German lines, had been wounded in action and had left the hospital only three days before he was reported missing in action. He enlisted in the army in July 1942, and after preliminary training he attended the Army Air Force LIaison Training School at Pittsburg, Kansas. He graduated a second lieutenant, from that school September 16, 1943, Lt. Kerr went overseas from Fort George Meade, Maryland on August 9, 1944 and saw action in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany. Last December 16 he was commissioned a first lieutenant.

Lt.Kerr was a native of Morning Sun, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Kerr. He grew to young manhood here and graduated from the Morning Sun High School with the class of 1939. Besides his parents, he is survived by three brothers, one of them Virgil S. Kerr, recently discharged from the army after a long term of service in combat areas, and six sisters.

May 17, 1945 Morning Sun News Herald with the following paragraph: Accompanied by a photo.

Lt. Maurice J. Kerr, son of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Kerr, was killed in action over Germany on March 25,. Lt. Kerr, serving with an artillery observation unit, had been wounded in previous action and had been released from the hospital only three days before his death. He is the fourth Morning Sun boy to die in action.

May 24, 1945. Headline reads "Program Honors War Dead"
Pictures of four local men who died in the war are featured. Phillip M. Walsh S 1-c, Corporal Dean Bisher, Corporal Joe Harris, and Lt. Maurice J. Kerr.
Dedication by Graduating Class (of Morning Sun High School).

June 14, 1945 Morning Sun News Herald

Tells of Deatha of Junior Kerr.
Letter from Commanding Officer to Parents Here

The following letter has been received here by Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Kerr telling them of the manner in which their son, Lt. Maurice J. Kerr met death in Germany.

Headquarters 83rd Armd FA Bn
APO 339 % Postmaster
New York City, N.Y.
May 28, 1945

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Kerr,

The official notification of the untimely death of your son, First Lieutenant Maurice J. Kerr, 01185229, must have been a blow to you that any words I might say could not ease, but I want you to know how keenly his loss is felt by myself and the officers and men of this battalion. I feel that I have lost a personal friend as well as an outstanding soldier.

Maurice was not only a fine aggressive soldier, but had the happy faculty of being admired and respected by everyone with whom he came in contact. He met his unfortunate death when his plane was shot down on the 25th of March 1945 in western Germany, while performing his duty as liaison pilot. Death was instantaneous and he could have suffered no pain. Burial rites were conducted shortly thereafter at a Military Cemetery in Germany by a Protestant Chaplain.

It is my hope that this expression of my personal feelings and the information of the circumstances surrounding your son's passing may be of some comfort to you in your bereavement. If I can ever be of any assistance to you, please do not hesitate to call upon me.
Sincerely,
Clarence C. Harvey Jr.
Lt. Col., 83rd Armd, FA Bn, Commanding

July 26, 1945 News Herald - there is a letter printed to Mrs. Kerr from a member of Lt. Kerr's battalion dated July 1, 1945 from Weissenburg, Germany. In it he talks about Lt. Kerr's history with the battalion and how he died.

"The plane was hit by a German Ack Ack gun and both pilot and observer were killed before the gun crashed to the ground."

"From the information obtainable to us at this time, both Maurice and Smitty (Corporal W. T. Smothers was in the plane with Lt. Kerr) are buried at Henri Chapelle cemetery in Belgium." Signed T-3 Thomas W. Clark