World War II. D-Day, June 6, 1944. The Canadians of the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment went ashore to storm and liberate the French seaside village of Saint Aubin-sur-Mer (code-named Nan Red sector, at the eastern end of Juno Beach) from the Germans. They were followed by the United Kingdom's 48th Royal Marine Commando. Days later, on June 10, 1944, an American fighter plane crashed into the sea near the same beach. The aircraft was pulled to shore at low tide by personnel from the United Kingdom's No. 2 Royal Air Force Beach Squadron. The iconic photo below captured the Saint Aubin-sur-Mer, Calvados, Normandy beach, scarred by the battle and the plane's wreckage. What many people don't know about this grim image of war is that the pilot of the plane was from Michigan. This is the story of Second Lieutenant John Alfred Weese, an Ann Arbor soldier who died in France.

Ann Arbor, Before World War II

John Alfred Weese was born January 26, 1920, in Ann Arbor to Douglas and Lorena Staebler Weese. John Staebler was his maternal grandfather. Alfred Weese was his paternal grandfather. Known as Jack to his family, he had an older sister, Virginia, and two younger sisters, Mary & Nancy. He lived here as a child and later resided with his family in several Michigan cities as his father's employment moved them around. He was a 1938 graduate of Durand High School (Shiawassee County) where his father worked for the Railway Express Agency. The Weese family returned to live in Ann Arbor after his graduation. Jack worked a variety of jobs, and attended Lawrence Institute of Technology in Detroit for one semester. He eventually found work as a lathe operator and machinist at the American Broach & Machine Company in downtown Ann Arbor, which is where he was employed when he enlisted.

Fighter Pilot

On August 5, 1942 Jack enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps. He worked at a Detroit recruiting center, and briefly spent time at Fort Custer. In early 1943 he reported at the Army Air Force classification center in Nashville, Tennessee and then was sent to pre-flight school at Maxwell Field, Alabama. By May 1943 he had been transferred to Souther Field, Georgia, for primary flight instruction. He stood third in his class at Souther Field. From there he moved to basic training at Cochran Field, Georgia. In November 1943 Jack was commissioned a second lieutenant and awarded the silver wings of a fighter pilot at a Craig Field graduation ceremony in Selma, Alabama. Attending the ceremony were his parents, two of his sisters, Mary & Nancy, and Irma Barnard, his girlfriend. Days later, when he was home in Ann Arbor on leave, the engagement of Jack and Irma was officially announced in the Ann Arbor News. Following his leave, Jack spent time at Mitchell Field, New York, and Bluethenthal Field in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he received his final combat training.

In 2020, Kris Koebler, daughter of Jack's sister Virginia, shared some early childhood memories of her uncle. "Jack was (I would put it) devastatingly handsome, smart, and brave.  I remember the portrait of him that hung in my grandparents’ home until they passed. He was engaged to a lovely girl named Irma Barnard.  They were to be married after the war."

"I have memories of riding around Ann Arbor, standing next to him in the front seat of his shiny red convertible.  (No seat belts in those days!!)  We would be singing “The Army Air Corps” anthem at the tops of our lungs. I was the only one of his nieces and nephews that he ever knew. One of my brothers was born when Jack was overseas, and both my sister and younger brother were born after his death, as were Mary’s and Nancy’s children. I truly wish I could have known him longer and that he could have known his extended family. "

Hell Hawks

In January 1944 Jack travelled to England as part of the United States’ 9th Air Force. In April 1944, Jack joined the 365th fighter group, 386th fighter squadron, piloting a Thunderbolt P-47. They were known as Hell Hawks, one of 18 fighter groups that were part of the 9th Air Force. When Jack arrived they were based in Beaulieu, Hampshire, England.

"So who were the Hell Hawks? Even the lowliest lieutenant of the lot had accomplished something at which tens of thousands had failed: he had completed flight training, had silver wings pinned on his chest, and was now officially qualified to pilot an aircraft. He had successfully made the transition to the mighty P-47 Thunderbolt, the "Jug," and survived to reach the combat theater...They were perfect physical specimens, these young men who strapped into an eighteen-thousand pound Thunderbolt, fired up a roaring, two-thousand-horsepower engine, and flew into battle lugging a veritable arsenal of bombs and ammunition. They had superb bodies and minds and the youthful confidence to believe they were unbeatable." - Hell Hawks! The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler's Wehrmacht by Robert F. Dorr & Thomas Jones

Jack's letters to his fiancée Irma shared his experiences as a Hell Hawk. He mentioned bombing bridges and installations in Nazi-held Europe, and taking part in strafing missions (attacking ground targets with bombs or machine-gun fire). From Beaulieu Jack flew two Normandy missions on D-Day, June 6th. He flew two more on June 7th, and one on June 8th. Bad weather with low visibility kept his group grounded on June 9th. On June 10, 1944 he flew his final mission when he was reported ”Missing In Action”. Just a few weeks before his final flight he was awarded an Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters.

Saint Aubin-sur-Mer, Calvados, Normandy, France

On June 10, 1944, U.S. Aircraft DH-5 No.276297 crashed into the sea off Saint Aubin-sur-Mer. The body of John A. Weese, United States Army Air Force, was recovered and buried in Grave No 8 of Bernières-sur-Mer White Beach Cemetery. The officiating Chaplain was the Rev. William E. Harrison, H/Capt., Canadian Army. The aircraft was recovered from the sea at low tide the next day and Royal Air Force No. 83 Group were informed so that salvage action could be taken.

Ann Arbor, During World War II

In 2020, Sally Connors, Jack's younger cousin, shared her memory of 1944. “I was 10 when cousin Jack went missing in action. I had two brothers in the service and this news worried me; would my brothers also go missing? I remember the sadness in my Uncle Doug’s family."

News of Jack's death didn't reach the Weese family until June 28, 1944. The Ann Arbor News ran the story on their front page the following day. In July 1944 the Weese family received the news that Jack had received the posthumous award of the Purple Heart.

By June 1945, a year after Jack's death, the Weese family still had few details about what had happened in France. Lorena Weese, his mother, wrote a letter to the headquarters of the U.S. Army Air Forces asking for a letter from Jack's commanding officer. Below is a copy of the response she received. The details in this correspondence were pulled directly from the original Missing Air Crew Report (MACR).

"...On 10th June 1944 John went out on what we call a Fighter Sweep in the Cherbourg assault area. His flight became separated in the clouds at about six thousand feet. This happened around 1245 hours and at 1310 hours he called in on the radio saying his plane had been hit.The propellor was out and oil pressure was gone. John said he was at seven thousand feet and could see the Beachhead. He thought he could "belly-land" the ship. By that we mean he was going to slide in without using the wheels. At this time he was very cool and acted as if he hadn't been injured. This was all we knew until confirmation of his death was received. For some reason John was not able to "belly-land" the ship and his plane crashed into the English Channel. He was buried in grave eight at Bernières-Sur-Mer Cemetery near St. Aubin-Sur-Mer, Normandy, France.

Please accept our sympathies. I am sorry this letter is so late in reaching you. The memory of John has been an inspiration to his fellow pilots and he has left his mark with us all. He was an excellent flyer who really enjoyed flying..."

Repatriation

The U.S. War Department made it clear that men and women who died overseas would remain there until the end of the conflict. The government had committed resources to fighting the war, not managing the storage and transportation of the fallen. The Weese family now faced a new kind of waiting to bring Jack back to Ann Arbor. The first war dead did not reach American shores until October 1947.

At the end of January 1948 the Weese family received the news that Jack was finally coming home. U.S. Army Transport Corporal Eric G. Gibson was loaded with 1,753 caskets in Europe, each shrouded in an American flag. 61 of these caskets belonged to Michigan servicemen, one of them being John Alfred Weese. Most of the dead on this funeral ship had died on the beaches at Normandy. A photographer captured an image of the ship that would dock in a snowstorm at Brooklyn Army base, New York, and it was published in countless newspapers across the country.

On February 7, 1948, Jack's body arrived by train at the Michigan Central station in Ann Arbor. A military escort traveled with him to the Muehlig Funeral home, and then to Bethlehem Cemetery for a private burial with full military honors. His parents were buried in the same cemetery, many years later.

Afterword/Author's Note

In 2014 aviation artist Ken Stanton contacted the Ann Arbor District Library from England. He had been shown a photo of a war plane crashed on a French beach and was tasked with finding out the story behind it. He had found record of John Weese's name as the pilot, and that John was from Ann Arbor. With our resources in the AADL Archives, I was able to piece together the story of John 'Jack' Weese. Through Ancestry.com, Ken made contact with some of Jack's surviving family members (Cousin Sally, Nieces Kris & Marti), and we all pooled our knowledge and findings. In the end, Ken created a painting of Jack's P-47, Jack's family members learned more about his history, and I dove deep into the research and grew quite fond of Jack in the process.

In 2020, Fanny Hubart-Salmon, contacted the Ann Arbor District Library from Saint Aubin-sur-Mer, Calvados, Normandy. "I grew up in the French town of Saint Aubin sur Mer, France. We are actively researching photos, stories and relatives of soldiers who died on our beach in June 1944 as we keep honoring them. It came to our attention that Alfred John "Jack" Weese, from Ann Arbor, had crashed on the beach 4 days after June 6th." I immediately reached out to Ken Stanton, who reached out to Jack's family members again, and we all provided Fanny with the information we had surfaced in 2014. The end result was a memorial plaque honoring Jack. It was installed above the beach where he, and so many others, made history. Below is a photo of the memorial, which you can visit yourself in Normandy.

A brief video of the 2020 D-Day ceremony honoring Jack Weese in Saint Aubin-sur-Mer is available on YouTube.

Special thanks to Ken Stanton, who first brought Jack to my attention. Special thanks to Jack's surviving family members who helped fill in the pieces, especially Sally Connors, Dr. Kristeen Koebler, & Marti Watson. Special thanks to Fanny Hubart-Salmon who brought everything full circle and worked to permanently honor Jack on the beach in Normandy. In memory of John Alfred Weese, 1920 - 1944.