On June 21, 1944, Pilot 2nd Lt. John D. Nicholson and the crew of the B-24 "Connie" took off with the rest of the squadron on a mission to bomb the Daimler-Benz aircraft engines plant in Genshagen/Marienfelde, Germany. After completing their bombing run, they began the return trip to England.

It wasn't long before Pilot Lt. Nicholson was calling to other members of his formation to inform them that he was low on gasoline. Somehow the aircraft was leaking fuel, possibly from a punctured fuel tank resulting from a flak burst. The aircraft continued to fly in formation for a while, but eventually had to drop out and proceed on its own.

One hour after dropping out of formation, Lt. Nicholson was again heard on the radio reporting that he was on a 260 degree heading and asking for a "QDM," or magnetic heading. While Nicholson was attempting to get this navigational aide, use of the channel he was on by aircraft of the 448th Bomb Group prohibited his message from being received by a ground station or possibly hindered his receipt of the requested heading.

The crew of "Connie." Pilot 2nd Lt. John D. Nicholson is in the front row first from the left.

Either way, the requested heading was not received by the radio operator. Nicholson made repeated attempts to get the proper directions to no avail. At 1255 hours, when his plane was three kilometers southwest of Zwaneberg, thirteen kilometers south of Amsterdam, the "Connie" was shot down by anti-aircraft fire.

The aircraft had reduced altitude so much that it was too low for a successful evacuation of the crew. Lt. John D. Nicholson and the rest of his crew all perished when the plane crashed. Their bodies were recovered by the Germans and buried in Hoofddorp on July 3.

Back at Squadron Headquarters, the crew was listed as Missing In Action. The Pittsburgh Press listed Brookline's Lt. John Nicholson as missing in the August 27, 1944 edition. Mrs. Dorothy Nicholson of 624 Woodbourne Avenue waited anxiously for word of her husband, holding out hope that he was either alive and being sheltered by the resistance, or being held as a Prisoner of War by the Germans.

It was not until after the war in Europe ended that the Army changed the status of 2nd Lt. John D. Nicholson from Missing in Action to Killed in Action. His body, along with those of his crew, were exhumed and reburied. Nicholson's remains were placed in a marked grave at Margraten Cemetery (Block BBB, Row 8, Grave 180).

Later, 2nd Lt. John D. Nicholson's body was once again exhumed and permanently interred in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, Eijsden-Margraten Municipality, Limburg, Netherlands. His body is buried in Plot P, Row 2, Grave 12.

Nicholson's memory is honored at this hallowed location along with that of another Brookline airman, 2nd Lt. Arthur B. Majestic, whose name appears on the Tablets of the Missing. In a touch of bitter irony, both pilots crashed on the same day, although their missions were completely different.