James Durward Counce Jr
Rank: Staff Sergeant
Branch: Army Air Corps
UT Major/Affiliation: UT Junior College - 1939-1941
Hometown: Hardin County, TN
- Oct. 11, 1920 – Jan. 11, 1944
- Hardin County, Tennessee
- UT Junior College – 1939-1941
- Staff Sergeant – Army Air Corps
- 533rd Bomb Sq, 381st Bomb Grp, 8th Air Force. B-17G Nose Gunner. KIA on a mission to bomb aircraft factories in Oschersleben, Germany.
- Enemy fighter planes
- Center Hill Cemetery in Hardin County, Tennessee
James Durward Counce Jr (Oct. 11, 1920 – Jan. 11, 1944) was born in Hardin County, Tennessee. He attended the University of Tennessee’s Junior College at Martin from 1939 to 1941. He enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps at the start of the war and was trained as a nose gunner on a B-17G crew. He was deployed to the European Theater with the rank of Staff Sergeant with the 533rd Bomb Squadron of the 381st Bomb Group in the 8th Air Force. SSgt Counce was killed in action on January 11, 1944, when his B-17G was shot down by German fighter planes while on a mission to bomb aircraft factories at Oschersleben, Germany. He is memorialized at Center Hill Cemetery in Hardin County, Tennessee.
