WW2 Leyte Fallen - P-47 pilot James Larimore

Flight Officer James Larimore was a P-47 pilot in the 348th Fighter Group.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/127366743/james-dale-larimore
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P-47Ds_348th_FG_in_flight_over_New_Guinea_1943.jpg

Flight Officer James Dale Larimore never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom. 

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WWII fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War II fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

 

James was born August 16, 1920, in Centerburg, Ohio to Denver Dale Larimore and Rachel C. Smith. He worked for Pennsylvania Furnace and Iron before enlisting in February of 1942 in Warren, Pennsylvania at the age of 21.

Larimore went into active service March 18, 1943, with the 5th Air Force, 348th Fighter Group, 342nd Fighter Squadron. His unit was assigned to Leyte, Philippines on November 20, 1944. They provided cover for convoys, flew patrols, escorted bombers, attacked enemy airfields, and supported ground forces. 1

During World War II, the group operated primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater. It was the most successful P-47 Thunderbolt unit in the Pacific War. The Group's commander, Colonel Neel Kearby ran up 20+ kills including a 6 kills-in-1-mission for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. The Group scored 396 kills, over half of all the kills credited to Fifth Air Force P-47s, and won two United States Distinguished Unit Citations. 2

Flight Officer Larimore was killed in action on December 19, 1944, in Leyte Province, Eastern Visayas, Philippines in the Battle of Leyte. The campaign for Leyte proved the first and most decisive operation in the American reconquest of the Philippines. Japanese losses in the campaign were heavy, with the army losing four divisions and several separate combat units, while the navy lost 26 major warships and 46 large transports and hundreds of merchant ships. In effect, once the decisive battle of Leyte was lost, the Japanese gave up hope of retaining the Philippines, conceding to the Allies a critical bastion from which Japan could be easily cut off from outside resources, and from which the final assaults on the Japanese home islands could be launched. 3

His grave is at Oakland Cemetery, Warren, Warren County, Pennsylvania.

Thank you for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Flight Officer James D. Larimore.

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This profile was written and  summarized by Brianne Ellison. I am a business owner and stay at home mom of 4 children in Utah. I have been an independent family history researcher for over 12 years. I have also had a passion for U.S. war history since I was a child. WWII is my most passionate research project aside from family history. I am so grateful to be able to contribute to a memorial of such a courageous soldier that never gave up. It is because of men like Larimore, that we have our freedom today. “Land of the Free because of the Brave.” Thank you, Flight Officer James Larimore. You will never be forgotten. 

This is one of the final 50 stories (18) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.

Last year on this date I profiled B-24 radio operator Billy Elliott. You can read about Billy here.

On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!

I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.

 

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WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

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http://www.tggf.org

References

1. Maurer, M. (1983). Air Force combat units of World War II (pp. 226-227) (United States, Department of Air Force, Office of Air Force History). Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History.

2. 348th Fighter Group. (n.d.). Retrieved August 07, 2020, from https://military.wikia.org/wiki/348th_Fighter_Group

3. Battle of Leyte. (2020, July 17). Retrieved August 07, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leyte

   http://ww2f.com/threads/342nd-fighter-squadron-scourgers-new-guinea-edition.55566/