US Army Air Corp 2nd Lieutenant Jesse John Moore Jr. was born in Holt in Okaloosa County, Florida on March 8, 1924, the son of Jesse John Moore Sr. (1898-1933) and Hortense Ruth McInnis (1899-1978). The family moved to Bagdad, Florida in Santa Rosa County sometime before 1930 where Jesse would grow up and enter the military. He attended and graduated from Milton High School in 1942 where he was a star running back on the school's football team.
Prior to graduation from Milton High School Jesse enlisted in the US Army Air Corps on March 31, 1932 and was sent for testing and processing in Montgomery, Alabama. After his graduation he went through basic and flighting training at Maxwell AAF, Eglin AAF, and other bases before receiving his wings and commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in April 1943. At the time of his death, he was stationed at Page Field in Ft. Myers, Lee County, Florida. There, he was assigned to the 53rd Fighter Group whose mission was to train replacement pilots for single-engine fighter planes. Their training aircraft at the time was the P-39 Airacobras. Having been there only a short time, he was in the process of receiving his 90 hours of flight training depending on how bad the replacement pilots were needed in the combat zones. They began the program by flying basic trainers, then moved to the AT-6 Texan aircraft then finally the P-39's. Before graduation they had to show proficiency in aerobatics, gunnery, and formation flying.
However, during a routine flight out of Buckingham Field on April 21, 1943 something went wrong at 4:20 PM and he crashed and was killed. His widowed mother was notified of Jesse's death and was asked about details for the return of his remains. To add to the poor woman's worry, her son Willis had just enlisted in the Army Air Corps a few weeks earlier. In the meantime, Jesse was brought home to Bagdad and buried beside his father in Bagdad Cemetery. His mother would join them in 1978 followed by his brother Willis.
Comments