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Personal info

Full name
HASSETT, John Thomas Jr
Date of birth
13 September 1922
Age
22
Place of birth
Sault Sainte Marie, Chippewa County, Michigan
Hometown
Sault Sainte Marie, Chippewa County, Michigan

Military service

Service number
T-127178
Rank
Flight Officer
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
496th Bombardment Squadron,
344th Bombardment Group, Medium
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
4 April 1945
Place of death
25 miles southeast of Trier, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg
Plot Row Grave
E 6 16

Immediate family

Members
John T. Hassett (father)
Phoebe Hassett (mother)
Lillian Hassett (sister)
Ilene Hassett (sister)
Gerald Hassett (brother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-96150
Data
Type: B-26
Destination: Grossaspach, Germany
Mission: Bombing of a supply depot

More information

F/O John T. Hassett graduated from Sault Ste Marie High School in 1941

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Detroit, Michigan on 18 November 1942.

The airplane was hit by flak over the target which caused the right engine to begin smoking. The pilot asked the navigator to set a course for the nearest airstrip which was Trier, Germany and was twenty minutes away.

The airplane lost altitude very rapidly and initially the pilot tried a crash landing which failed.

Four men survived the crash, three men were killed.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / 1940 Census, http://www.miwsr.com/2009/20090401.asp
Photo source: www.findagrave.com – Luxembourg American Cemetery, Arie-Jan van Hees, Pilot Class book 44-E, Curtis Field, Texas, Sault Ste Marie High School 1941