John R. Kane
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Colonel John R. Kane (January 5, 1907 - May 29, 1996) was a Colonel in the United States Army Air Forces and later the United States Air Force and a World War II Medal of Honor recipient.
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[edit] Biography
John Kane was the son of a Baptist preacher and was born in MacGregor, Texas, grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas and would attend Baylor University in Waco, Texas where he was a star basketball and baseball player. He was fortunate to be one of the survivors of the January 1927 collision between the bus carrying the basketball team and a train in Round Rock, Texas. The ten students killed would become known as the Immortal Ten, a homecoming ceremony recognizing those killed would become a Baylor tradition.
Upon graduation in 1928, Kane moved to Shreveport, Louisiana and later joined the Army Air Corps in June of 1931. He was a flying cadet at Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas and received his commission and wings in 1932. He was assigned March Field in California in the Reserves. Kane would be returned to active duty in 1935 and would return to the Shreveport area stationed at nearby Barksdale Field in Bossier City and eventually became the base commander before being assigned to MacDill Field in Florida as an Operations officer and Later at Lackland Field as a squadron commander.
By July 1942 Kane was a Major and was assigned to the 98th Bomb Group, known by their nickname of the "Pyramiders", flying missions in Africa. While there he flew 43 combat missions and eventually was promoted to full Colonel and assumed command of the 98th. It was during this time that his nickname of "Killer Kane" became cemented both among his men and the enemy. He had received the nickname originally from the fact that one of his friends had been named Rogers and because they were always seen together they became known as Buck Rogers and Killer Kane. The nickname stuck because of his tenacity and stubbornness.
Kane became well known in aviation circles when he led the 98th as part of Operation Tidal Wave, the August 1, 1943 attack on the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania. Flying a D-model B-24 "Hail Columbia" serial number 41-11825, Kane's group took off early in the morning for the 2400 mile round trip. (Hail, Columbia was the unofficial anthem of the United States until 1931, when the Star-Spangled Banner became official. Today it is the official entrance march of the Vice President.) Enroute to the target the 98th and the 44th Bomb Group became separated from the other three Bomb Groups due to dense cloud conditions over a mountain range. Once the 98th reached the refineries they found that another group had already bombed their targets and the defenses were fully prepared for the new wave of bombers. Despite the threat of anti-aircraft fire, unexploded ordnance, oil fires, and dense smoke Colonel Kane led his formation on their attack run.
Following their briefed path the 98th, flanked by the 44th Bomb Group led by Colonel Leon W. Johnson flew alongside the railroad yard they led into the refineries. It was there that they were engaged by flak batteries that were hidden inside box cars on a moving train. The disguised train was the brainchild of General Gerstenberg, the German commander of the defenses around Ploesti. Colonel Kane engaged the enemy flak pieces with a group of fixed .50 caliber machine guns that he had mounted in the nose of his B-24. When he had exhausted the weapons ammunition he ordered his gunners to destroy the train’s engine. Once they reached the target his group released their bombs on the Asta Romana and Columbia Aquila refineries before heading back to their base. It was there that the heavily damaged "Hail Columbia" would crash land and be written off as a total loss. They plane would be unceremoniously dumped off a cliff the next day. Colonel Kane would be awarded the Medal of Honor a few days later on a cricket field in Cairo.
After the war he would command various bases in the United States but never rose above the rank of Colonel, due mostly to his propensity to care more for his men than his superiors and telling Generals how he truly felt instead of what they wanted to hear.
Colonel Kane retired in 1956 and retired to a farm in Logan County, Arkansas along with his wife Phyllis where he built his house by himself. Upon his wife’s death in 1987 he moved to Pennsylvania to be near his son, John Franklin Kane. He died May 29, 1996 while living at a Veterans Administration Nursing Home.
In 1998, Kane's former command, Barksdale Air Force Base named its simulator facility after him.
[edit] Medal of Honor citation
The citation for Colonel Kane's Medal of Honor
- KANE, JOHN R. (Air Mission)
- Rank and organization: Colonel, U.S. Army Air Corps, 9th Air Force.
- Place and date: Ploesti Raid, Rumania, 1 August 1943.
- Entered service at: Shreveport, Louisiana.
- Birth: McGregor, Texas.
- G.O. No.: 54, 9 August 1943:
For conspicuous gallantry in action and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 1 August 1943. On this date he led the third element of heavy bombardment aircraft in a mass low-level bombing attack against the vitally important enemy target of the Ploesti oil refineries. En route to the target, which necessitated a round-trip flight of over 2,400 miles, Col. Kane's element became separated from the leading portion of the massed formation in avoiding dense and dangerous cumulous cloud conditions over mountainous terrain. Rather than turn back from such a vital mission he elected to proceed to his target. Upon arrival at the target area it was discovered that another group had apparently missed its target and had previously attacked and damaged the target assigned to Colonel Kane's element. Despite the thoroughly warned defenses, the intensive antiaircraft fire, enemy fighter airplanes, extreme hazards on a low-level attack of exploding delayed action bombs from the previous element, of oil fires and explosions and dense smoke over the target area, Colonel Kane elected to lead his formation into the attack. By his gallant courage, brilliant leadership, and superior flying skill, he and the formation under his command successfully attacked this vast refinery so essential to our enemies' war effort. Through his conspicuous gallantry in this most hazardous action against the enemy, and by his intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, Colonel Kane personally contributed vitally to the success of this daring mission and thereby rendered most distinguished service in the furtherance of the defeat of our enemies."
