Ploesti mission :

Target : White 2 - Concordia Vega - White 3 - Unirea Sepranta Report Details USAAF : MACR

Date Lost: 1 Aug 43

Serial Number: 41-24109

Aircraft Model : B-24D

Aircraft Letter : C

Aircraft Name : Ready And Willing

Location : crew of 11 - RTB - Returned successfully to base at Benghazi, Libya



Captain Roche was awarded Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor in Operation Tidal Wave, one of the most daring raids of WWII. Coming in at tree top level, the 376th Bomb Group, the Traveling Circus, attacked White II, the Concordia Vega oil refinery. The 93rd Bomb Group earned a Presidential Unit Citation attacking White 3, the Unirea Sepranta Refinery. All of the crewmen who flew on the mission received the Distinguished Flying Cross Medal, some posthumously.



Colonel Roche was recalled to duty for the Korean conflict. He was a USAF career officer.



Gravesite Details : Col. U.S. Army Air Force - World War II - Korea - Vietnam



Flowers • 31st. Lt. John Raymond Roche was assigned to the 330th Bomb Squadron, in the 93rd Bomb Group, attached to the 8th Air Force, USAAF, in the U.K. and was temporarily detached (TDY) to the 9th Air Force in Benghazi, Libya, for Operation Tidal Wave, the huge bombing mission to Ploesti, Romania. He started out flying the Ploesti mission in the B-24D, 41-24109, named, Ready and Willing. Lt. Roche was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor in Operation Tidal Wave, one of the most daring missions of WWII. Coming in at tree top level with remnants of the 376th Bomb Group, Ted's Traveling Circus, Roche attacked the Concordia-Vega oil refinery. His bomb Group. the 93rd Bomb Group earned a Presidential Unit Citation for the mission, and all of the crews that flew on the mission, received the Distinguished Flying Cross. 1 Aug 43.



After the Ploesti mission, while still on temporary assignment to the 9th Air Force in North Africa, on a bombing run to Tunisia, Lt. Roche and his Copilot Lt. Robert L. Brown, were flying their B-24D, 41-23909, Ambrose II, on a bombing mission over the port of Bizerte, Algeria, where they were hit by flak and as they made their final run into Bizerte's port facilities. After being hit by the port's flak guns, they were attacked and shot up by German fighters, breaking a gasoline line in their B-24, as they moved in closer for a more precise run at their target. After leaving the area, Capt. Roche asked his crew for their preferences : a very hazardous wheels up landing on the Algerian desert, or a less dangerous bail out of their airplane. They chose a desert landing because of their wounded crewmen, who couldn't bail out. So Roche and his copilot, Robert Brown, made a wheels up landing with their crippled B-24 on the desert sand, breaking the plane into several pieces, and leaving themselves and their crew, those still living, wounded and stranded with their wrecked bomber, out on the Algerian desert. Three crewmen were badly wounded on the Bizerte mission by the German flak and the German fighters' cannons, and died after the rough crash landing. The crew spent the night protecting their plane and their plane and their crewmen's bodies with their pistols, shooting at the Algerian natives, who wanted to strip the plane and the dead men. The rest of the seven men survived the mission. 3 KIA. - 7 RTB. 13 Dec 43. MACR Unknown



During WWII, Roche survived being shot down twice. Later, in the war, he was recruited to work on the highly secretive Manhattan Project. In 1946, he participated in the nuclear weapon tests at Bikini Atoll.



Distinguished Service Cross Award citation:

"Captain John R. Roche, United States Army Air Forces, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as pilot of a B-24 heavy bomber in the 330th Bombardment Squadron, the 93rd Bombardment Group (H), attached to the 9th Air Force, while participating in a bombing mission against the Ploesti Oil Refineries in Rumania. During a long and hazardous attack against a vital enemy oil installation made at low altitude by a formation of B-24D type aircraft, Captain Roche flew through heavy enemy ground fire against impossible odds, and then brought his crew safely back to base without the loss of a single man. The personal courage and zealous devotion to duty displayed by Captain Roche on this occasion, even when confronted with practically certain destruction, exemplified the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, the 9th Air Force, and the United States Army Air Forces."



Awards : DSC, DFC (OLC), BSM, LOM, Air Medal (3OLC), Purple Heart (OLC), WWII Victory Medal, American Defense and American Campaign Medals, EAME (5 x Battle Stars), National Defence Medal (OLC), Air Force Longevity Medal (5OLC).



Post war: Col. John Roche served as commander of numerous air bases around the world during his 30 years in the Air Force. He was also assigned to the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force at the Pentagon. He retired from his distinguished military career with the final rank of Colonel, in 1970.