2LT John Ripley Buchanan, Jr (O-756470), known to his family as Jack and to his fellow pilots as Buck, was born on August 12, 1922 in Washington, DC. He was the third child of John Ripley and Ruth Lester Buchanan and brother to Lt. James Anderson Buchanan (USN) and Helen Warren Buchanan – Jimmy and Polly. Jack’s parents divorced when he was young, and he spent all his school years leading up to the war in boarding schools in Pennsylvania, Massachusettes, New York, and Virginia.

Letters written to his mother chronologically piece together Jack’s progress through his training as an aviation cadet. Upon enlistment in November 1942, he was sent to Nashville, TN. After two months in Classification, he was sent to civilian operated cadet training bases located in Santa Ana, Chico and then Tulare, CA to complete the subsequent stages of flight instruction. On July 19, 1943, he took a dusty train ride to Luke Field in Phoenix, AZ where he joined class 43-I. Jack earned his wings by November 1 and by the tenth of that month was back on the East Coast. He was assigned to the 410th Fighter Squadron or the 373rd Fighter Group in Richmond, VA, but by February 1, 1944, was reassigned to a training group there after two unfortunate accidents on the airfield. From the address on a letter he sent to his mother, we learned he was then sent to Pocatello, ID and later ended up at Harding Field in Baton Rouge, LA by the end of May 1944. From there Jack made his way across the Atlantic and was re-assigned to the 410th Fighter Squadron in August. On the 28th of that month, he was quickly transferred over to the 367th Fighter Squadron of the 358th Fighter Groupon stationed at Pontorson, France.

From September 3 until his death on December 16, 1944, Jack flew approximately 40 combat missions supporting US ground troops and destroying German targets in France and Germany. He and the squadron flew missions supporting the siege of Brest, and later the forts around Metz, most notably Fort Driant. As the Germans pulled back to, and in some areas back over the Rhine River, the missions flown were consistently armed reconnaissance in the Alsace Region and into Germany itself. Operating from their bases in Vitry-le-Francois, Mourmelon and Toul, the 367th also flew escort missions protecting the light bomber groups of the 9th Air Force. During his time with the 367th, Jack had achieved the level of Element Leader within his Flight and received the Air Medal w six oak leaf clusters.

His last mission was flown on the morning of December 16th, 1944. Over the marshalling yard of Pfortz (Maximilliansau), Germany, Jack was flying in the number three position of his flight as he dove down to drop bombs on trains in the yard. As he pulled up from his bomb run, he was bounced by the leader of a German jagdgeschwader leading approximately 20 enemy Messerschmitt Bf-109s and suffered severe damage to his P-47. The Americans were quickly disorganized and split up by the overwhelming enemy numbers. As each of Jack’s buddies struggled to regain organization only his wingman, 2LT Norman L. Paeth noted that Jack was flying towards the northwest in level flight with his plane smoking badly. No other Americans in the squadron saw Jack alive again.

Approximately 15 kilometers northwest of Maximilliansau near the town of Hayna, eighteen-year-old Pirmin Metz was busy herding cattle back to the small town. As he was crossing a small bridge, he heard a plane flying towards his location. He looked up and saw the huge P-47 trailing smoke and flying low towards town. It was quite clear to Metz that the American fighter was going to crash. Upon impact, the plane broke up into two pieces and the plane’s large engine and propeller were flung 100s of yards from the impact site. When Metz, reached the plane a group of German soldiers were looking over the dead body of the American pilot who was laying curled up near the plane, his hands covering his head, his eyes closed and with no visible traumatic damage to his body save a broken ankle and a few scorches on his clothing. His parachute and sidearm were removed and everyone quickly moved away from the wreckage. The bullets from the eight fifty caliber wing guns exploded as the wreckage burned for the next day.

The civilians later moved his body to the town cemetery where he was buried in the corner in an unmarked grave until he was discovered on March 29, 1945 by an investigating officer from the 358th fighter group. The Group’s Chaplain, Captain Thomas E. Foster, and one of the 367th crew chiefs, Sgt. Robert J. Niedenthal, later returned to give last rights to Jack and once US Ground troops moved through the area, the Graves Registration troops removed his body to a temporary cemetery in Bensheim, Germany.

Jack currently rests in St. Avold, France at Plot D Row 49 Grave 20 of the Lorraine American Cemetery.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see_ www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story._

Sources:

Personal correspondence from John Ripley Buchanan, Jr. to his mother Ruth Lester Buchanan.

“Luke Field: Class 43-I Air Corps Advanced Flying School”, Luke Field Phoenix, AZ; Phoenix Arizona Engraving and Lithographing Co, 1943

“Orange Tails: The Story of the 358th Fighter Group and Ancillary Units” – 1945, Rogers Printing Company of Chicago, Dixon, IL

Official Mission Reports and History of the 367th Fighter Squadron; Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, AL

Official History of the 358th Fighter Group; Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, AL

Missing Air Crew Reports (MACRs) of the U.S. Army Air Forces, 1942-1947, File # 10751, National Archives and Record Administration

Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF), NARA II, St. Louis, MO and US Department of the Army

https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/buchanan%3Djohn-1

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56653251/john-ripley-buchanan

Letter from Capt Thomas E. Foster to Ruth Lester Buchanan 1 May 1945

Letter from Sgt Robert J Niedenthal to Ruth Lester Buchanan circa 1946

email correspondence with Mathias Heissler ref interview with Mr. Pirmin Metz - Strasbourg, France 2018