Joseph Vencil Kapr Jr

Military ROLL OF HONOUR
media-18345.jpeg UPL 18345 375th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group. Bottisham, mid-July 1944.

Left to right, back row:
Howard Spaulding, Herbert Boelter, David Morgan, James Eason, Murray Bell, Eugene Cole, David Edwards, William Shackelford, William Kemp, William McCoppin, Maynard Emlaw, Dustin Cowle, William Gill, Eugene Gentzler and Bruce Rowlett

Left to right, second row:
Charles Narvis and Joseph Kapr

Left to right, third row:
Raymond Comer, Alton Snyder, Robert Adams, Sherman Armsby, Robert Wright, Warren Ewert, John Black, Roswell Freedman (Squadron Commander), James Hall and Urban Drew

Left to right, fourth row:
James Donohue, William Rogers, John Thomas, Russell Sobieski, Merle Rainey, Dean Morehouse, Elroy Neely, Francis Glankler

Left to right, fifth row: Charles Cummins, 'Snitz' and Martin Johnson

Museum object reference no. BAM_0308 Bottisham Airfield Museum

Amended formatting of caption to make it easier to work out who is who.

Object Number - UPL 18345 - 375th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group. Bottisham, mid-July 1944. Left to right, back row: Howard Spaulding, Herbert Boelter, David...

Joseph Kapr served as a fighter pilot with the 361st Fighter Group. Due to dropping oil pressure and an engine starting to smoke, he bailed out of his P-51 42-106741 on an escort mission on 4 August 1944 and landed in the sea near Heligoland, Germany. He is considered as having drowned and is commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing at the Normandy American Cemetery. He was posthumously awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.

From Don Kufrin:

'My Uncle Frank Rudar (who passed away in 2009) was very close to Joe Kapr. My mother, Rose Rudar Kufrin, told me the only time she ever saw her brother cry was in 1944 when he learned about the loss of his best friend, Joe Kapr.'

'When I was a young boy growing up near Chicago my Mother would sometimes talk about World War II and she would often mention Joe Kapr's plane crashing into the North Sea. As a young boy I had vivid (but incorrect) images of a young pilot crashing a P-47 fighter in the dark and either drowning or freezing to death in the cold water.'

'My Mother was not a historian and I was too young to question the her account. Most of what she told me was factually incorrect. In 2008 I obtained a copy of Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 7737 and was able to learn the actual circumstances of the loss of Joe Kapr.'

'Joe Kapr was lost in the daylight on a beautiful summer day, Friday August 4, 1944, when his P-51B fighter had a failure in the engine lubrication oil system and he bailed out at 18,000 feet at 4:06 PM near Helgoland, an island in the North Sea.'

'The other members of Joe Kapr's flight (a total of 4 planes) watched as he descended and struck the water. However neither Joe Kapr or his dinghy were sighted. The obvious conclusion is that Joe Kapr drowned.'

Connections

See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.

Units served with

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: P-51 Mustang
  • Unit: 361st Fighter Group 375th Fighter Squadron

Missions

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

11 May 1921 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Czechoslovakian-born Joseph V. and Annie Kapr

Enlisted

21 August 1942 as a Private in the Air Corps, in Chicago, Illinois

Other

Missing In Action (MIA)-Killed In Action (KIA)

4 August 1944 after bailing out of his P-51 42-106741 and landing in the sea, about 2 miles North of the island of Heligoland, Germany. He is presumed to have drowned.
Cicero, Cook County, Illinois

Other

Memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing

at the Normandy American Cemetery, near Bayeux, France

Revisions

Date
ContributorED-BB
Changes
Sources

MACR 7737
US CENSUS 1930
NARA WWII Enlistment records
ABMC website

Date
ContributorLucy May
Changes
Sources

Don Kufrin: 'My Uncle Frank Rudar was best friends with Joseph Kapr. My Mother Rose Rudar Kufrin related the devastating impact which the loss of Joseph Kapr had on my Uncle Frank. '

Date
ContributorLucy May
Changes
Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 7737 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

Joseph Vencil Kapr: Gallery (1 items)