US Navy LTjg Jack Oscar Lund was born in Pensacola, Florida on June 18, 1918, the son of Oscar Adolph Lund (1888-1962) and Edna Palmer. Jack Sometime after 1918, his father remarried Florence Nathalee Robinson (1897-1966). His father was employed by Newport Industries for many years as the assistant secretary and passed away in Montebello, CA where he was joined by Nathalie in Rose Hills Memorial Park. While living in Pensacola, they resided in the family home at 1613 East Lee Street.
Oscar had three sons, all of which graduated from Pensacola High School, and all served in the military during WWII. His oldest was Jack (Class of 1937), then George Thomas "Sandy" (Class of 1938), and his youngest Robert Edward "Bobby" (Class of 1942). All three were also renown tennis players who won numerous tournaments both in "singles" and in "doubles." After Jack graduated in 1937, he attended the University of Florida where he continued to excel in the game! Jack and Bobby stayed with their net game with Jack becoming the Pensacola City Champion in 1941. At the same time, Sandy added football and basketball to his athletic repertoire. Prior to the war, even with jobs hard to come by Jack got a job at Newport, no doubt assisted by his father. Shortly, thereafter Jack entered the Navy's V-5 aviation cadet training program. These students attended two 4-month semesters of college before attending pre-flight training. Their pre-flight was divided into (1) flight preparatory school, (2) pre-Midshipman School, and (3) Midshipman School. Upon completion, Jack was commissioned an Ensign in the US Naval Reserve. Along the way, Jack would marry a Pensacola High School classmate by the name of Muriel Adair Dilger (1921-1977) on November 3, 1942, in Norfolk, VA. She was an assistant clerk for the US Government at the time. She was also the daughter of a government bookkeeper Loren Lambert Dilger and Emma B. Hess who were living at 1512 E. Gonzalez Street, Pensacola, FL.
Jack was finally stationed at NAS Guantanamo where he flew a PV-1 Ventura bomber with Squadron VB-131. His squadron flew anti-submarine patrols but were more than capable of attacking and sinking them upon discovery. Most of the pilots in the squadron had previously been flying the PBY Catalinas and OS2U Kingfishers before being assigned to the new Ventura's so were somewhat unfamiliar with them. On July 10, 1943, Jack took off from Guantanamo at 0930 hours on a routine patrol flight with his crew; Ensign Robert Bradley Small, AMM3c George Willian Eckert, ARM3c Alvis Dale Lemon Jr., AOM3c Donald LaVerne Kieczinski. At 1053 hours, the base received a single radio message of "engine failure" from somewhere south of Guantanamo. When no further contact was received, they immediately dispatched search aircraft and a blimp who found an oil slick and aircraft wreckage in the vicinity of Navassa Island. Another plane found two yellow life jackets floating, debris, gasoline, and a green, fluorescent dye floating on the surface but no survivors. With their search exhausted, they notified his parents and wife and informed them nothing more could be done.
His wife Muriel would remarry in the NAS Pensacola Chapel the following year in August 1944 to USMC Lt. Richard Victor Rich (1920-1999) of New York. She would pass away in 1977 in Birmingham, Alabama. Jack's brother Sandy (1920-1979) enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 1942 and would serve until 1946. His youngest brother Robert Edward (1923-1994) enlisted in the US Army Air Corps flight program in 1943 and served until 1946.
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