Walter Oliver St JOHN Jr

Source : Nico..! (Ellen Marchese)

Parents : Walter O & Marmina R Skeahan St-JOHN

Brother : Terry Noel 

Source : Nico..!

P-38 Lightning - type J-15-LO - s/n 43-28637

Macr : 7978
Mission : Convoy strafing

Takeoff from Aghione, Corsica
Shot by the flak at 18:10
the pilot jumps, but his parachute torches

 Back from a bombing mission on the bridge of Remoulins the squadron attacked a convoy linking Nîmes to Beaucaire, the P-38J 43-28637 victim of heavy flak fire forced the pilot to eject. The aircraft crashed near the Gazay mill, the pilot was never found.

Map of Rhône American Cemetery

On August 20th, 1944, after having bombed without success the bridges of Remoulins, a squadron of P-38-J Lightnings of the 94th Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter Group, led by Major Ed LaClare, flushed out a large German road convoy between Nîmes and Beaucaire. The P-38s attacked immediately with their onboard weapons. They encountered heavy flak and the P-38J-15-LO 43-28637 Lightning of 2nd Lt. Walter Oliver St. John was hit. The young pilot jumped and his parachute failed to open correctly (MACR 7978). As the Lightning burned out near the Moulin Gazay, the pilot lay unconscious near Mas Alméras. A Luftwaffe van left the convoy and went in search of the pilot. The occupants of the van pushed away the witnesses who had come to help, took St John's body, and returned the way they had come. The body has not been found to this day and St John still appears on the wall of the "MIA" in the cemetery of Draguignan.

Pilot Loss Report, signed by Maj. Edward LA CLARE regarding 2Lt. Walter St-JOHN.

(source : archives.gov)

Certificate of testimony of the incident by 2Lt. David H. RANER.
(source : archives.gov)