 |
| Cpl. Jack Dangerfield flew his final mission for the 45th Bombardment Squadron after fighting had ceased. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64925448/john-david-dangerfield https://www.amazon.com/Home-Comforts-Bombardment-B-29-40-BW-Superfortress/dp/B07GZBLS3V |
John David "Jack" Dangerfield never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on October 25, 1918 in Utah. His parents John and Jessie were also both born in Utah. His father worked as a metal worker and died in 1924. John had two brothers. He completed four years of high school and married English born Florence Smith on April 20, 1942. He worked as a chemical analyst.
He was drafted into the army on May 5, 1943. He volunteered for the Army Air Forces and became a corporal in the 45th Bombardment Squadron, 40th Bombardment Group, 20th Air Force, which was equipped with B-29 Superfortresses. He was sent to the Pacific Theater on July 27, 1945. By that point the 45th BS was operating from Tinian. The unit flew low level flights where it dropped incendiary bombs during night raids over Japanese urban areas and dropped mines in Japanese shipping lanes. It flew it's last bombing mission on August 10, 1945.
On August 30, 1945 Corporal Dangerfield volunteered to fly in the B-29 The Flying Fort, with a mission to drop much needed supplies for American POWs near Yawata, Japan. Approaching Japan from the Bungo Channel in heavy fog and rain, Cpl. Dangerfield's plane was coming in too low and clipped the top of a ridge near Mt. Sobo. The plane crashed and burst into flames. All eleven crewmen perished.
His grave is at the Salt Lake City Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah. His widow never remarried and died in 2011.
Corporal Dangerfield's story is also told at https://www.fold3.com/page/91298170-john-d-dangerfield/stories. It is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project, Utah pilot.
Last year on this date I profiled B-17 gunner Frank Schwagel and General Nathan Bedford Forrest III, who was killed on the same mission, using a strange flying formation never used before or since. You can read about Frank here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
A few of those airmen of WW2 also fell in my country.During the war, many of them came to Jamaica on training missions which never went as planned,many B-29's crashed hear but a B-26 went down off our south coast with all hands and I'm in touch with the co-pilot's family.
ReplyDelete