 |
| 2nd Lt. John Weese was a P-47 pilot in the 365th Fighter Group flying missions to France. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107538299/john-alfred-weese/photo |
John Alfred Weese never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Announcement: Later this month we will be starting a project that will result in the stories of all 400,000 plus of the World War 2 fallen at one online location. There will be an accompanying smart phone app to allow users visiting any war memorial to scan the fallen serviceman's name and be linked to his story. Watch this blog or join the WW2 Fallen 100 Facebook page to learn of upcoming details.
John was born on January 26, 1920 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His parents Douglas and Lorena were also both born in Michigan. His father worked as a railway express cashier and later as a railway express agent. John had one older sister and two younger sisters. By 1940 John had completed four years of high school and was still living at home.
He enlisted in the army in August 1942. He volunteered for the Army Air Forces branch and qualified as a fighter pilot. He became a second lieutenant in the 386th Fighter Squadron, 365th Fighter Group which was equipped with P-47 Thunderbolts. The 365th FG, known as the Hell Hawks, arrived in England in December 1943. It flew tactical missions to weaken the German ability to stop the planned invasion of France.
Lt. Weese's final mission was on June 10, 1944. While on patrol with three other planes from his squadron, he got separated in the clouds and radioed that he'd been hit. He crash landed his plane on Sword Beach and did not survive.
His grave is at Bethlehem Cemetery in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Last year on this date I profiled Iwo Jima fallen Wyatt Percell, 5th Marine Division. You can read about Wyatt 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
No comments:
Post a Comment