Carbon County , Pennsylvania Service Number 33367015
William Devenney a single man from Carbon County, Pennsylvania was born on the 17th February 1922. Before joining the Air Corps he worked as a Brakemen for the Central Railroad Company of N.J (New Jersey) on the L&S Division lines.
The L&S (Lehigh & Susquehanna) Division lines ran from Mauch Chunk to Easton where it joined the main CRC line. As a brakeman William's duties would have included assisting in the braking of the train, the checking of couplings and lining switches, checking for shifting cargo and the removal of stowaways.
On the 12/9/42 after leaving his job on the railway he enlisted as a Private in the Air Corps at Allentown, Pennsylvania. His Army Serial number was 33367015.
After initial training in the Unitied States he was shipped overseas to Toome, Northern Ireland for the last phase of his training prior to posting to a combat unit.
His duty on the day of the crash was rear gunner.
On the 20th April 1944 William was buried in Lisnabreeny American Military Cemetery, Rocky Road, Belfast, Plot B, Row 2, Grave No 8. In 1947 the cemetery was decommissioned and his father Joseph Devenney authorised the transfer and permanent burial of his remains in the American War Cemetery, Madingley, Cambridge, England.
Having been exhumed from Lisnabreeny on the 11/11/47 he was finally laid to rest in Plot D, Row 2 Grave 100, Madingley cemetery.
Part of a photograph relating to the burial of PVT Steve Fellin which took place on the 6th May 1944 at Lisnabreeny Cemetery. Although the marker cross in the picture is censored records comfirm that its William's grave. Photograph courtesy of "After The Battle Magazine", "The G.I's in Northern Ireland".
Williams Grave, Madingley, Cambridge.
William's name can be found on The Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Mauch Chunk World War II Honor roll, Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
Madingley was constructed on the site of a temporary cemetery established in 1944 on land donated by the University of Cambridge. After WW2 it was selected to be the only American Military Cemetery in the British Isles. All American service personal who had been temporarily interred in England and Northern Ireland were exhumed and either repatriated to the Unitied States or permanently buried in Cambridge.
3808 American Military personel who died between 1941-45 are buried in the cemtery along two who died in 1990.
The cemetery also has a 427 foot wall "The Tablets of The Missing" with the names and particulars of 5127 missing in action, lost or buried at sea or those unknowns whose remains were either never found or positively identified prior to interment.
