John Clinton Breese

John Clinton Breese enlisted into the US Army Air Forces on Dec. 13, 1942. His father, Clinton Breese, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during WWI while serving as a pilot. He was called into active service at Truax Field, Wisconsin in February 1943. Breese received preliminary training in Fresno, California. From California, he was sent to Tempe, Arizona, for College Training Detachment courses. In April 1944, after completing his advanced aviation training at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, he received his commission and his wings. He went back to Arizona before being transferred to Merced, California, where he would serve as a flying instructor from May 1944 until August 1944. He volunteered for the Air Transport Command and was sent to India after a six-week training course. He flew cargo missions out of Karachi, India from October 1944 until August 1945 when he applied to begin flying "The Hump," a cargo route that crossed the Himalayan Mountains. 2nd Lt. Breese was the co-pilot on a C-46 cargo plane. On March 1, 1945, Breese's C-46 took off out of Myitkyina, Burma on a cargo mission destined for Kunming, China. At some point, the C-46 caught fire and crashed into a mountain in the Junan Province of China. The crew and passengers onboard the aircraft were buried by the natives until 1948, when Breese's grave was rediscovered, and he was reinterred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Lemay, Missouri.