Ernest Edwin Pelkey was born on 21 January 1914, and he entered the service from Boone County, Missouri.  On 7 July 1944, he was piloting a B-24 that was nicknamed the Laura Jo (44-40086.)  The mission was to attack an aircraft manufacturing plant in Bernburg, Germany. En route to the target, the Laura Jo was attacked by German aircraft.  It went into a spin and exploded in mid-air, killing all of the crew members.

The Laura Jo’s tail gunner, Eugene Reeves, its waist gunner, Thomas Minihan, and its ball turret gunner, John Brzozowski, are also buried at the Ardennes American Cemetery.

Information from the 492ndBomb Group Association (http://www.492ndbombgroup.com/cgi-bin/pagepilot.cgi?page=showCrewPage&cr...) and MACR 7831