John Arthur Coons

Aviation Cadet John Arthur Coons enlisted into the US Army Air Forces on Oct. 31, 1941. He had previously been part of the UW-Madison faculty as an assistant Spanish teacher. He became an aviation cadet and completed his preliminary flight training at Wilson-Bonifils Field in Oklahoma and completed his first solo flight only two weeks before his death. Aviation Cadet Coons was killed on Dec. 10, 1941, when his PT-19A trainer aircraft, s/n 41-14866, went into a stall and crashed 4.5 miles northeast of Wilson-Bonifils Field. He is interred at Forest Hill Cemetery in Attica, New York.