John Walz Tadje was born October 21, 1921 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Friedrich Wilhelm (born in Hannover, Prussia) and Eliza Sophia Walz Tadje. John had two brothers, one older and one younger.

John graduated from West High School and attended two years at the University of Utah before enlisting in the Army Air Corps March 22, 1943 as an aviation cadet. At the time he was 6’1” tall and weighed 160 lbs. He had brown eyes, brown hair, and a light brown complexion.

1st Lt. John Tadje became the lead navigator on a B-17 Flying Fortress with the 750th Bomb Squadron of the 457th Bomb Group. He earned his silver wings from advanced navigation school and then the unit went overseas in April 1944.

There were 12,677 B-17 bombers built and used throughout the war. Lt. Tadje along with the rest of the crew of Aircraft 43-38538 were on a mission over Munster, Germany strategic locations on September 30, 1944. During that mission only their plane was lost along with the ten crew members.

Lt. Tadje was reported killed on April 21, 1945. He was buried in the Ardennes American Cemetery (Plot D, Row 9, Grave 54) in Neuville-3n-Condroz, Arrondissement de Liege, Liege, Belgium.

Lt. Tadje was the recipient of an Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters and a Purple Heart.

Sources:

West High School Yearbooks 1937, 1938

US WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

US WWII Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946

Utah, Military Records, 1861-1970

1930 and 1940 Federal Census Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

US Headstone and Interment Records for US Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949

WWI, WWII and Korean War Casualty Listing

WWII and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas

Global, Find A Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations

US Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945

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 smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

1st Lt. John W Tadje