John Joseph Heffernan Jr. was a United States Army Air Force officer who was killed in Southeast Asia during World War II. His remains were located during a DPAA excavation search between January and March 2019 and identified on November 2, 2021.
Background[]
John Heffernan Jr. was born in 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from St. John's University in 1940. Before he enlisted in the military, he worked in the actuary department of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
Obituary at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle December 9, 1945
Case[]
On January 23, 1942, John enlisted in the United States Army Air Force. He received his wings at Miami University in Miami, Florida, on January 30, 1943, and left for India on August 24. He rose through the ranks to become a 1st Lieutenant of the 490th Bomb Squadron, 341st Bomb Group, 10th Air Force. His service number was O-797000.
On February 22, 1944, John was the navigator for a B-25G Mitchell bomber that was tasked to bomb railroads south of Monywa, Myanmar. He was with six others: Staff Sergeant John Bowden (engineer), Sergeant John Flanagan (radio operator), 2nd Lieutenant Robert Holly (co-pilot), Staff Sergeant Irvin Playez (photographer), Captain Harry Sutphen (pilot), and Sergeant Roy Tuttle (gunner). They lifted off from Kurmitola, India.
Before they reached their target, the bomber caught fire and crashed into a field on the banks of the Chindwin River near Letpadaung, Myanmar. According to the local villagers, all of the men were killed, and the Japanese confiscated all of the items that they could find and demanded that the villagers bury the men.
Aftermath[]
John was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Air Medal. His parents were informed of his death in December 1945. His name was memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Philippines.
After the end of World War II, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel. Despite several attempts to locate the crash, they were unable to determine the precise location and could not even obtain local permission to excavate the crash site. The crew was declared unrecoverable in 1947, although it was also reported that John was declared non-recoverable on February 8, 1948.
Identification[]
In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began investigating the incident. They were able to confirm the location of the crash site thanks to eyewitness statements from the residents and the recovery of aircraft wreckage in 2018.
Between January and March 2019, the DPAA conducted a recovery mission at the site and discovered human remains, possible life support equipment, and personal effects were recovered.
The retained evidence was sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, on March 13, 2019. Laboratory analysis, combined with the totality of the available circumstantial evidence, helped identify the remains of John Heffernan Jr. on November 2, 2021. He was the first of the seven men to be identified from the crash. The remains of the other six have not been identified.
Sources[]
- Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Press Release (archived)
- Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Personnel Profile
- John Heffernan Jr. (Manila American Cemetery and Memorial) at Find a Grave
- Feeney Funeral Home
Footnotes[]
- ↑ Some sources may refer to Myanmar as Burma.