James Joseph Kearney was the son of Patrick Joseph and Jennie Kearney.
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He was born about 1924. He lived in the parish of Greenlough. Joey Kearney came from Newton Corner.
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About 1938, Joseph Kearney left Greenlough at the age of 14 to learn to be a priest at Salesian College in Manchester. This is believed to be Thornleigh Salesian College near Bolton, although Joseph is not listed on their Roll of Honour.
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James Joseph Kearney served with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in World War Two. He as a wireless operator and an air gunner.
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By July 1944, Sergeant Kearney was serving with 106 Squadron.
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At 23:25 on the evening of 5th July 1944, a Lancaster bomber (serial number ME832), with Sergeant Kearney as part of the seven man crew, took off from Metheringham on a night raid.
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The target was Saint Leu d'Esserent, a the flying-bomb storage site. Bomber Command sent a force of 231 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitos to attack the V1 supply depot at Saint Leu D'Esserent.
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The aircraft crashed at 0130, fully loaded in a small woodland two kilometres south west of the village of St-Germain-la-Poterie, eight kilometres from Beauvais.
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Of the crew of seven, only F/S O J McNaughton RCAF survived and evaded capture. The crew who perished were:
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Sergeant Ronald BENTLEY (1698420) Flight Engineer
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Sergeant Alfred BRADLEY (1594893) Air Gunner
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Pilot Officer Stanley Montague FUTCHER (177861)
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Sergeant James Joseph KEARNEY (1233707)
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Flying Officer William Hannah Clingen RAMSAY (52128) Air Gunner
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Flight Sergeant Francis Henry STOKELD (1577610) Navigator
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Sergeant James Joseph Kearney has no known grave and is commemorated on on Panel 232 of the Runnymede Memorial.
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Sergeant James Joseph Kearney is also commemorated on a plaque in the small woodland near St-Germain-la-Poterie where the aircraft crashed.
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The CWGC record Sergeant James Joseph Kearney as the son of Patrick Joseph and Jennie Kearney of Newton, Portglenone, Co. Antrim.
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There is a townland in County Antrim called Newton Crommelin, but it is many miles from Portglenone.
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