Arley John Kuehn was born on 13 April 1922, in Peru, Illinois, the son of Otto and Emily Kuehn, both Peru natives. His father had served in the First World War as a Private in Company H of the 55th Infantry, and the year before Arley’s birth, Otto married Emily and began building a life in the town where they had both grown up.
By 1930, the Kuehn family was settled at 2228 Second Street in Peru. Otto had traded his soldier’s uniform for a mail carrier’s route, delivering letters and parcels through the streets of their small Illinois city. Arley was eight years old, and the household had grown to include his younger sister Palma, born in 1927. A decade later, little had changed on Second Street—Otto was still walking his mail route, and Arley, now a teenager, was still under the family roof, finishing up his high school years.
Arley graduated from LaSalle-Peru Township High School in 1939, having participated in the school band all four years. He went on to attend L-P-O Junior College, continuing his education close to home. In the years that followed, he worked a variety of jobs that reflected the modest, working life of a young man in a small Midwestern city. He ushered at the Peru theater, served as assistant manager at the Majestic Theater in LaSalle, and eventually found work as a government ordnance inspector, a role that took him not only to the Westclox plant in Peru but also to facilities in Chicago and Bloomington.
On 30 June 1942, Arley registered for the draft. He was twenty years old—6 feet tall, 178 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Five months later, on 20 November 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in Peoria, Illinois. The path that followed was long and demanding. In late January 1943 he reported for basic training in Miami Beach, Florida, and from there moved on to pre-flight training at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. By June 19th he was attached to the bombardier wing at Ellington Field in Houston, where he trained until September 7th. Gunnery school at Laredo, Texas came next, followed by assignment to Childress, Texas, in October 1943.
It was at Childress, late in February 1944, that Arley John Kuehn was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and earned his designation as a navigator-bombardier with the U.S. Army Air Forces. He came home on leave, and on 6 March 1944, he and Dorothy Robinson were married in the First Congregational Church in Peru.
After leave, Arley was sent to Tampa, Florida, and Dorothy accompanied him. He was subsequently transferred to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where deployment overseas was expected to follow before long. At some point Dorothy returned to Peru living at 1704 7th Street while Arley was away in training
It was not to be. On 21 June 1944, 2nd Lieutenant Arley John Kuehn was killed when the plane he was serving on as navigator-bombardier crashed near Lake Charles Air Field, approximately twelve miles west of DeQuincy, Louisiana. Six other crew members also perished. The aircraft appeared to have exploded in mid-air during what had been a routine training flight. Arley Kuehn was twenty-two years old. He and Dorothy had been married less than four months.
He was buried on 26 June 1944, with full military honors in Peru City Cemetery, Block 6, Lot 65, Grave 7. He was posthumously eligible for the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.
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- SBTSProject/Illinois/LaSalle
- SBTS Historian: Pam Broviak
Sources:
- 1930 U.S. Census, Otto Kuehn, Fold3.
- 1940 U.S. Census, Otto Kuehn, Ancestry.
- “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016,” LaSalle-Peru Township High School, 1939, Arley J. Kuehn, Ancestry.
- “Illinois, County Marriages, 1810-1940”, Otto August Kuehn to Emily Augusta Fiedler, 1921 FamilySearch.
- “Illinois, Births and Christenings, 1824-1940”, Arley John Kuehn, database, FamilySearch.
- “Illinois, Births and Christenings, 1824-1940”, Otto August Kuehn, database, FamilySearch.
- “U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Church Records, 1781-1969,” Congregational Records, Illinois, Peru, Immanuel, Emily Augusta Fiedler, Ancestry.
- “United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007“, Palma Jane Kuehn, FamilySearch.
- “United States, Enlisted and Officer Muster Rolls and Rosters, 1916-1939”, database, FamilySearch.
- “US, WWII Draft Registration Cards, 1940,” Arley John Kuehn, Fold3.
- “US, WWII Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946,” Arley J Kuehn, Fold3.
- “7 Die in Crash Near De Quincy,” The Shreveport Journal, 22 June 1944, p. 3, col. 2, Newspapers.com.
- The Daily Post Tribune, LaSalle, Ill., Stars and Stripes Honor Edition, Main Section, p. 2, col. 3, and p 3, col. 8.
- Illinois Deceased Personnel File (IDPF), Arley John Kuehn, National Archives.
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/100066993/arley-john-kuehn
Thank you to Findagrave user Vande for the newspaper sources posted on LT Kuehn’s Findagrave memorial.
