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STAFF SERGEANT LOUIS
PENVEN JR. was born around 1918. He had entered the Army around January
1940. He was
serving with the 31st Bomber Squadron, 5th Bomber Group, Heavy at Hickam
Field in Hawaii, where it primarily engaged in search and patrol
missions off Hawaii when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. Then a
private, Louis Penven was wounded in that attack, earning his first
Purple Heart. As part of the Seventh Air Force, the 5th
Bombardment Group consisted of the 31st, 23rd, 72nd, and 394th Bomb
Squadrons, and after the Pearl Harbor attack, flew armed reconnaissance
missions for
11 months. He also saw action at Midway. His unit subsequently
was sent to Espritu Santo in the Solomon Islands, and with
a mix of B-17s and B-24s fought in the Solomon Islands and Philippines
campaigns as part of the 13th Air Force.
By 1943 Louis Penven had been
promoted to Staff Sergeant, and received several decorations for valor
and heroism in combat. He was declared missing in action on July 27,
1943, and later was declared to be presumed dead.
Louis Penven had ties to Camden County NJ
and had lived at 12 West Helen Avenue in Maple Shade, Burlington County
NJ. His death was reported in the August 5, 1943 edition of the Camden Courier-Post.
He was survived by his mother, two brothers, Robert and
Oscar, and a sister, Marion. He is memorialized on
the Camden County WWII war memorial at City Hall in Camden NJ, and at
the Maple Shade NJ War Memorial on Main Street in Maple Shade NJ.
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