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| 2nd Lt. Jesse Maupin was the navigator on the B-24 Gregory the Great on its final mission. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61246559/jesse-c_-maupin https://bolick-crew.000webhostapp.com |
Jesse C. Maupin never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
John was born on June 16, 1920 in Tennessee. His parents William and Anna were born in Tennessee and Missouri, respectively. His father worked as a farmer, and later as a stave foundry molder (not sure what that is!). Jesse had one older brothers, one older sister, three younger brothers, and one younger sister. By 1940 Jesse had completed four years of high school and found work as a chair factory glacier. He was still living at home.
He enlisted Army Air Corp in September 1940. He became a B-24 navigator and second lieutenant in the 577th Bombardment Squadron, 392nd Bombardment Group. The 392nd BG began flying missions from its base in England in September 1943.
Lt. Maupin was the navigator of B-24 42-7493, nicknamed Gregory the Great, on its seventh mission on November 26, 1943. The target that day was Bremen, Germany. Gregory the Great was seen to be experiencing engine problems and it struggled to keep up with the other bombers as it reached the German coast. It fell behind and crashed at the month of the Elbe River in an unsuccessful belly landing. There were no survivors among the crew of 11. The wreckage could be seen at low tide until it was removed. Post-war investigations could not determine whether the plane was shot down or crashed due to mechanical failure.
A website has been created dedicated to the crew of this final mission. You can find it here.
His grave is at Blue Springs Cemetery at Blue Springs, Tennessee.
ANATOLE BROYARD
Future New York Times journalist Anatole Broyard was born on the exact same date at Jesse Maupin. Anatole was born in New Orleans of mixed race Creole lineage. The family moved to New York when Anatole was a child. For economic advantages his parents played down his black ancestry.
Anatole was accepted into officers candidate school as white and eventually reached the rank of captain in the US Army during World War II.
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatole_Broyard |
This is one of the final 100 stories (79) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.
Last year on this date I profiled John Frysiek, 77th Infantry Division. You can read about John 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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