World War II Honoree

John S. 'Jack' Bailey

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Technical Sergeant. On May 21, 1942, he entered the Army Air Corps, with his induction at Fort Myer, Virginia. After the completion of Boot Camp, he was accepted into the Flight Aviation Training Program. Served as a B-24J ‘Liberator’ Bomber Radio Operator, and based at the Hawkins Airfield on Helen Island, Tarawa Atoll in the Central Pacific Theater of Operations. He was a member of the Thirty-Eighth Bomber Squadron, Thirtieth Bomber Group, and a subordinate unit of the Seventh Army Air Force. Reported missing in action Friday, January 21, 1944, when the pilot experienced problems in gaining sufficient speed and altitude during take-off. The bomber crashed into the Tarawa Lagoon, with the loss of seven lives. The crew was scheduled to participate in a bombing mission, against targets on Roi-Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll. A Flight Surgeon, assigned to the squadron recovered the remains of six individuals, and interred them in a battlefield cemetery on Betio Island. Later his missing in action status was amended to read killed in action. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, the U.S. Army 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company, Quartermaster Corps conducted recovery operations on Betio Island and his remains were not recovered. In May of 2017 the history flight, a private organization, discovered a burial grave on Betio Island. The remains were transferred to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency in Hawaii where he was identified. The remains of this Airman were interred with Military Honors, June 13, 2018 at the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia. He received the following awards posthumously: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with one oak leaf cluster and the Purple Heart. Distinguished Flying Cross awarded for Heroism or Extraordinary Achievement while participating in aerial flight. The Air Medal awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.