Kenneth H Underwood served as a fighter pilot with the 55th Fighter Group.

His son recalled:

'My father sent a Stars and Stripes articles about his outfit destroying locomotives. He wrote on it how much fun it was to "prang" the trains. Prang being British for strafe.

He was practicing strafing trains at the railroad yard at Little Saxham when his P-38 lost both engines and he had to do a belly landing.'



Kenneth was killed in a flying accident when the P-38 Lightning (serial number 42-104334) he was flying crashed due to mechanical failings on 18 May 1944.



He left behind a wife, Alice, who was 7 and a half months pregnant at the time with their son Ken.



Ken was able to visit England in 1992 and the farmer was able to show him the tree that his father's aircraft had collided with. In 1997, Ken was given the surviving part of one of his father's flying boots that had been found at the crash site.



Ken H Underwood's grandson, Harryson Underwood, is in training to become a fighter pilot with the United States Air Force. He will wear the same wings his grandfather wore on his graduation. He is now a Captain flying the F15E Strike Eagle and has equalled his Grandfather’s achievement of an Air Medal with 2 Bronze Stars for 40 successful missions in various parts of the world.