John W. Ahern was born on 21 January 1920 in Hastings, Minnesota.  He was the son of Edward and Johanna Ahern, and he had two brothers and two sisters.  He graduated from Hastings High School in 1937, and then went into the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) for one year in Washington State.  Following the CCC, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota, and took business courses.  In his junior year, he decided to enlist in the Army, believing it be his patriotic responsibility given the circumstances of the times.  In 1942, he applied to join the US Army Air Forces and was accepted. He was assigned to a B-17 Flying Fortress of the 729thBomber Squadron of the 452ndBomb Group. On 14 May 1944, his bomber was attacked by enemy fighters near Merzhausen, Germany.  The attack disabled the electricity system and Ahern was unable to escape from the ball turret.  Four other members of the crew also did not survive.

This information was drawn from a story about John Ahern written by Mark Walsh and provided to AOMDA by Henri Hannon.