John Allen Eidson was born in Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina on March 30, 1921 to John Minahan and Bernice (Berdie) Eidson. In the 1930 Census the family is living in New Orleans, Louisiana where his father is working as a contractor for a petroleum company.

At some point the family moved back to Maryland where John attended Hagerstown High School. He was active in drama, football, baseball and track.

John attended the Georgia Military Academy, Gulf Coast Military Academy, Tulane and Loyola and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force before he was 18. He transferred to the US Army Air Force as a corporal on May 13, 1942 when our nation entered World War II.¹

He was assigned as a pilot to the 456th Bomber Group, heavy, 745th Bomber Squadron of the 15th Air Force. They were activated on June 1, 1943 and trained with B-24s for duty overseas. The B-24’s were difficult to fly with stiff and heavy controls. There was only one exit near the tail making it extremely difficult to reach the exit when wearing a parachute.

The company moved to Italy in December 1943 and January 1944. They operated chiefly against strategic targets such as marshalling yards, aircraft factories, and railroad bridges in Italy, Austria and Romania. ²

John advanced to become a 1st Lt. and was serving as a flight commander. On February 17, 1944, John was the pilot of the B-24 Liberator #42-52315 headed on a mission to Grottaferrata, Italy when they were shot down by the enemy. This was his first mission and all aboard the aircraft were killed. Besides John, they included:

• Joseph G Adkins – Nose Gunner

• Robert R Blakewell - Bombardier

• Robert M Blalock – Waist Gunner

• Joseph L Caruso – Top Turret Gunner

• James W McDaniel – Navigator

• Francis K Murray – Co-Pilot

• Carmine V Olivet – Ball Turret Gunner

• Erwin M Rahe – Radio Operator

John was buried in Italy, then in 1949 his body was returned to the United States from Nettuno, Italy through the World War II Repatriation Program. On November 10, 1949, he was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

He received the Air Medal and a Purple Heart.

Thank you, 1st Lt John Allen Eidson for your service in the Army Air Corps of the United States of America. Thank you for your courage and dedication to our country and its citizens.

Sources:

¹ Atlanta Journal March 26, 1944

² https://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/247294

https://www.GenealogyBank.com

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=588218

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

John A Eidson