Shot down 15 September 1943 in B-17 #42-3437. Killed in Action (KIA).

Published in The Burlington Free Press on Sept. 15, 2013 :

"In Memory and Honor of Sgt. Elwin Walter McMahon and The Excalibur's Revenge Crew.

Seventy years ago on Sept. 15, 1943, a B-17, The Excalibur's Revenge, along with other bombers, departed from the British Isles on a bombing mission to Paris, France. Just as the planes were over their designated target area, the Excalibur was hit by anti-aircraft fire, and with the exception of one survivor, the plane blew-up and went down in an inferno. My 20-year-old brother, Sgt. Elwin Walter McMahon, the plane's tail gunner, was last seen trying to bail-out... and at that moment his destiny was fulfilled. All of the crew members were products of the Great Depression. So, they had only one resolve... to make this country a better place for the next generation(s). The question that's yet to be answered by this me-myself-and-I generation is... Did they die for a lost cause?"