World War II Honoree

Jack Berkowitz

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Bronx, New York

Honored By

Edith & Michael Berkowitz

Relationship

Wife & Son

FLEW 13 MISSIONS AS A NAVIGATOR OVER GERMANY WITH THE 350TH. WAS SHOT DOWN NEW YEAR’S EVE, 1944 DURING THE HISTORIC PIGGY BACK FLIGHT. HIS PLANE, HAVING LOST THREE ENGINES CAME DOWN, IN MID-AIR, ATOP ANOTHER PLANE. THE PILOT AND CO-PILOT OF THE BOTTOM PLANE ATTEMPTED TO LAND BOTH, BUT WERE KILLED IN THE CRASH. WHILE PARACHUTING OUT, HE WAS SHOT IN THE LEG BY A GERMAN FIGHTER PLANE. HE LANDED NEAR A FELLOW CREWMAN WHO’D BROKEN BOTH HIPS FALLING INTO A TREE. DESPITE HIS OWN WOUNDS, JACK CARRIED THE OTHER AIRMAN TO A NEARBY VILLAGE. THERE, THEY HID IN THE CHURCH WITH A HANDFUL OF OTHER SURVIVORS UNTIL APPREHENDED BY GERMAN SOLDIERS AND INTERNED IN STALAG LUFT 1 FOR SIX MONTHS. AS THE ONLY SURVIVING OFFICER OF THE CRASH, JACK WAS INTERROGATED FOR DAYS, BECAUSE, BASED ON THE WRECKAGE, THE GERMANS WERE CONVINCED THE ALLIES HAD CREATED NEW SECRET WEAPON, AN 8 ENGINE BOMBER. HE WAS REPORTED DEAD OR MISSING IN ACTION AND HIS WIFE WAS UNAWARE OF HIS FATE UNTIL THE CAMP WAS LIBERATED BY THE RUSSIANS IN JUNE 1945.