John F. Mahoney was born in Connecticut in 1923.  He was the son of Matthew and May Mahoney, and he had a brother named Malcolm.  He served as a Waist Gunner on a B-24 Liberator that was part of the 700th Bomb Squadron of the 445th Bomb Group.  On 22 April 1944, the bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire on a mission over Germany, and the crew was forced to bail out over Belgium.  He was sheltered in the home of a Belgian family in Waregem, and in the summer of 1945 he joined up with the Belgian Secret Army.  On 5 September 1944, while on a patrol with the Secret Army, they encountered German forces that surrounded and executed them.  He died together with Secret Army members Jozef Duthoy, Roger Vansteenbrugge and Marcel Windels.  James Cockriel, a fellow American airman who had joined up with the Secret Army, survived was shot with Mahoney, but survived.
Information from Robert Mahoney, John’s nephew.