US Army Air Corps 2Lt. John Francis Faulkner was born in Pensacola, Florida on May 4, 1917, the son of Ira Thomas Faulkner (1884-1972) and Catherine Cecilia Anderson (1894-1918). His father had moved to Pensacola in 1909 from Union Springs, Alabama. Afterwards, Ira went to work as a clerk for the post office around 1910 and would marry Catherine Cecelia Anderson two years later in 1912. She was the daughter of Captain Francis (1864-1925) and Argent Simmons Anderson (1865-1934). Francis was a retired Chief Boatswain Mate with the US Navy, having served from 1887-1916.
In 1918, during the Spanish Influenza pandemic, John's mother Catherine came down with pneumonia and passed away. So many cases of pneumonia were actually diagnosed as Spanish Influenza in the Pensacola area, so it was likely her cause of death. His father would marry Miss Margaret Madeline Rauscher (1902-1987) in 1924 when John was seven years old. In the meantime, Ira became the superintendent of the post office around 1920 and would retire himself after forty years.
John's grandfather was a Confederate Second Lieutenant with the 20th Mississippi Infantry Regiment. His regiment was transferred to Virginia and then to Tennessee where they were captured at Ft. Donelson in February, 1862. The regiment was exchanged and assigned to the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana. They served at Vicksburg before being transferred to the Army of Tennessee where they fought in the Atlanta and Tennessee Campaigns. They would surrender at the end of the war in North Carolina with only a few survivors of its original muster.
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As for John, he would attend the local schools before entering Pensacola High School where he graduated in 1937. Afterwards, he went to work at the post office where his father was the superintendent and attended the University of Florida at some point in time. After the war began, John enlisted in the US Army Air Corps on January 9, 1942, and was sent to Camp Blanding, Florida for processing. He received his commission on February 26, 1944, at Selman Field, LA. After his training as a navigator was complete, he was sent overseas and assigned on July 18, 1944 to a B-17 bomber with the 551st Bomber Squadron, 385 Bomber Group, of the US 8th Air Force. His squadron was stationed at the Great Ashfield airfield that was built in 1942 for heavy bombers. The 385th Group had been there since the summer of 1943 prior to John's arrival. In all, the 385th would fly 296 missions from there with losses of 129 bombers.
On August 9, 1944, John and his crew took off from Great Ashfield on a bombing mission to Kusel, Germany. Aboard was Sterling Bristol, John Faulkner (navigator), Tony Burrows, Bill H. Allison (pilot), John Campbell, Earl Hansen, Tony Mosca, Julius King, Buell Martin. Over Kusel, they were hit by antiaircraft fire and crashed eleven miles away in Baumholder. Of the crew, Campbell, Hansen, and Faulker were killed, and the remaining crew got out and were captured and made prisoners of war.
His remains were recovered after the war and returned to the US per request of his family. He was shipped home in July 1948 aboard the US Army Transport (USAT) SS Oglethorpe Victory to a regional distribution center and then on to Pensacola. Here he was buried on August 19, 1948, in St. John's Cemetery alongside his mother.
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