Freedom Remembered

Born: June 24, 1972 in Park Ridge, Illinois
Died: March 31, 2005 in Albania

Capt. James S. Cronin of Elk Grove Village, Illinois graduated from Elk Grove High School in 1991 and joined the Air Force out of college. At a very young age, James dream of serving in the military. That goal was born out of his love for airplanes. At first he wanted to be an astronaut, but in time decided that a more suitable ambition was to be a pilot in the United States Air Force. In 1992, just a year out of high school, James left his home to enlist. He completed officers training and was commissioned to the rank of captain in 1998. James served a total of 12 years in the Air Force, and was involved in the training of NATO Air Force Pilots. He is the recipient of the Meritorious Service metal from President Bush. At the time of his death, he was assigned to the 7th Special Operations Squadron, based at Royal Air Force Station Mildenhall in England. He was one of nine crewmembers flying a night training mission in Albania when the plane crashed. He is survived by his parents, James E.T. Cronin and Roxanne Galli, brother of Christopher; grandson of Virginia and the late Del De La Rosa, and Dorothy and the late Thomas Cronin. James was 32.

Burial is at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois

The Capt. James S. Cronin by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.