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Contact Info
Home Town Franklin, Tennessee
Last Address Franklin, Tennessee
Date of Passing Sep 18, 1966
Location of Interment Mount Hope Cemetery - Franklin, Tennessee
He was credited with destroying 8 enemy aircraft in aerial combat plus 1 damaged and 17 more destroyed on the ground.
He died of a brain tumor while on active duty.
His DSC citation: Awarded for actions during World War II The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Lieutenant Colonel (Air Corps) Claiborne H. Kinnard, Jr. (ASN: 0-383723), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Pilot of a P-51 Fighter Airplane assigned to Headquarters, 355th Fighter Group, EIGHTH Air Force, in aerial combat against enemy forces on 7 July 1944, while leading his Group in the escort of heavy bombers at Halle, Germany. Circling the target area, Colonel Kinnard observed 20 enemy airplanes attacking the bomber formation. Approaching to intercept them Colonel Kinnard discovered he had become separated from his Group and was leading a flight of only three airplanes. Despite the odds against him he immediately attacked, destroying one enemy fighter and dispersing the entire formation. In the encounter Colonel Kinnard's wing man was lost, and, at this moment, 30 enemy airplanes which had been acting as top cover launched their attack. Colonel Kinnard, in his firm resolve to protect the bomber formation, launched a fearless and daring attack on the enemy, notwithstanding their numerical superiority. So skillful and vicious was his attack that he was able to destroy two more of the enemy and protect his wing man while the latter destroyed another. The outstanding heroism and devotion to duty displayed by Colonel Kinnard on this occasion reflect highest credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States.
General Orders: Headquarters, U.S. Strategic Forces in Europe, General Orders No. 73 (1944)
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Central Europe Campaign (1945)
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
May / 1945
Description On March 22, 1945, the U.S. Third Army established a second salient, in addition to the one at Remagen, across the Rhine River at Oppenheim, 288 miles southwest of Berlin. The next day its troops also crossed the river at Boppard, 40 miles northwest of Oppenheim. Farther north, British and Canadian forces went across near Wesel, 65 miles northwest of Bonn. Ninth Air Force and Royal Air Force troop carriers and gliders dropped an American and a British airborne division north of Wesel on March 24, while the U.S. Ninth Army crossed the river 10 miles southeast of Wesel. The next day the U.S. First Army began an advance into Germany from Remagen, just south of Bonn, and on March 26 the Seventh Army crossed the Rhine River north of Mannheim, about 25 miles south of Oppenheim. Five days later, on March 31, French troops crossed the Rhine 10 miles south of Mannheim.
Before the Allied armies began crossing the Rhine in force, Allied air forces bombed and strafed German positions in the contested areas along the river. Heavy bombers also flew battlefield interdiction missions between March 21 and 24, before returning to strategic bombardment missions against targets in Germany. Although little of strategic value remained because of the destruction wrought by the
combined bomber offensive, oil refineries and fuel depots remained primary targets.
The Luftwaffe could no longer effectively oppose the heavy bombers nor could it provide close air support for retreating German troops.
When fuel was available, the enemy continued to intercept Allied bomber formations with a few fighter aircraft. On the battle front, AAF fighter-bombers flew close air support and tactical reconnaissance missions for Allied forces, while medium bombers attacked bridges, trucks, troop concentrations, railroads, and airfields. Troop carrier and transport aircraft flew critically needed supplies to forward airfields that had been rebuilt by aviation engineers behind the advancing Allied armies. After delivering supplies, the pilots loaded wounded soldiers and liberated prisoners of war and returned them to the rear areas. The last mission of the AAF's heavy bombers in Europe involved flying supplies to the starving population in The Netherlands.
