John M. Carroll

U. S. Army Air Corps
WW II
KIA | 1943

Technical Sergeant Carroll entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from New York and served in the 329th Bombardment Squadron, 93rd Bombardment Group.

On August 1, 1943, Operation TIDAL WAVE, a bombing raid against the oil refineries around Ploiești, Romania, was launched. One hundred and seventy-seven B-24 Liberators took off from Benghazi, Libya for the raid. TSG Carroll was the radio operator on one Liberator (serial number 42-40999) that was one of fifty-one planes that failed to return.

Technical Operation TIDAL WAVE, while successfully damaging the Ploiești oil refineries, cost the lives of hundreds of USAAC airmen, many of whom were interred by Romanian citizens into the Bolovan Cemetery in Ploiești. During post war operations there, the American Graves Registration Command exhumed
unknown remains that were eventually re-interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery. Sergeant Carroll was memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy.

In 2017, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) began exhuming unknown remains for comparison with the unaccounted-for airmen lost during Operation TIDAL WAVE.

On August 23, 2022, the laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established an association between one set of these unknown remains and Technical Sergeant Carroll.

A stunning example of “no man left behind” after 79 years. This centuries-old idea exemplifies the respect that the American people and Military feel is due to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Sponsored by Mario Buonviaggio