James E. McLean was born on 27 September 1916 in Mount Sterling, Kentucky.  He was the foster son of Mr. And Mrs. A.B. Cantrell.  He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the USAAF in February 1943, and married Virginia Wylie a month later.  He was the pilot of a B-17 nicknamed the Short Stride IV.  On 4 January 1944, the Short Stride IV was on a mission to bomb Munster, Germany.  At around 10.30, the bomber began to take its position for the initial point of attack when James was momentarily blinded as he flew directly into the sun.  The Short Stride IV collided with another B-17 nicknamed the Skin and Bones. James was killed in this collision.  The copilot, Harold Zlotnik, the navigator, John R. Gray, the flight engineer/top turret gunner Richard Wynn, and the waist gunner David Miller, Jr. are also buried at the Ardennes American Cemetery.

Information provided by Nadine Huylebroeck and from The Snetterton Falcons by Robert E. Doherty and Geoffrey D. Ward.