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| B-17 pilot Captain John Hutchison was killed on what was supposed to be his final mission before returning home. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/147964028/john-neal-hutchison |
John Neal "Hutch" Hutchison, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Announcement: In just a few days 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 February 10, 1920 in Avon, Mississippi. His parents John and Eva were born in Alabama and Mississippi, respectively. His father worked as a farmer. John had one younger brother. By 1940 John was still living at home. He had completed two years of college and was helping out with the family farm since his father was age 73.
He volunteered for the Army Air Forces in January 1942. He became a pilot in the 550th Bombardment Squadron, 385th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, which was equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses.
Hutch arrived in England in July 1943 with the first men of the 385th BG. They were based out of Great Ashfield, England. He was probably a second or first lieutenant at the time, but over the next six months he was promoted to captain.
Captain Hutchison's final mission was on February 21, 1944. This was his 25th mission and was therefore supposed to be his last mission before returning stateside. He was flying B-17 #42-31370 with the nickname Sleepytime Gal. The target for that day was Deipholz, Germany. The 385th BG lost one plane over the continent but the other 33 made it back to England. Unfortunately Cap. Hutchinson's plane collided in midair with another bomber and all 20 men on the two planes were killed.
During his service Captain Hutchison earned the Air Medal, three Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
His father died at some point later in 1944.
His grave is at Greenville Cemetery in Greenville, Cemetery. If any readers live nearby, it would be nice to have a photo of his gravestone added to his findagrave.com page.
Last year on this date I profiled Clyde Barnes, destroyer USS Turner. You can read about Clyde 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
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