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Allied bombers under heavy flak above burning
oil refineries, Ploesti, Romania - Library of Congress

Always interested in air travel, Col. John Harold "Jack" Hayden Jr. became an airplane pilot in young manhood. He flew extensively in the years before World War II and taught aviation in South America. After the war’s outbreak, he joined the U.S. Army Air Force and attained the rank of colonel. He was deployed to the European Theatre and was assigned to the London headquarters of the 8th Army Air Force, 93rd Group, 328th Squadron. Jack’s exploits earned him a Silver Star in 1943 for extraordinary achievements during a series of daring missions to destroy oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania, flying at very low heights to avoid radar detection.

As pictured here, bending slightly while shaking hands at center, his duties included presenting Distinguished Service Cross medals to Air Force veterans for similar heroism in action.

The B-24 heavy bomber in which Jack flew was considered a Liberator and nicknamed "Wise Guy." On the fateful day of Dec. 22, 1943, he undertook a mission to destroy railyards at Osnabrück, Germany. The plane was struck by enemy fire and anti-aircraft flak. Writing later, Capt. Henri Z. Lake, an intelligence officer, said that the Wise Guy "had several large bursts hit close by, and then took evasive action, which consisted chiefly of violent turns. This scattered the formation. [It] was last seen … as it passed under the formation." Unable to regain control, the Wise Guy crashed into the North Sea, west of the island of Texel, The Netherlands, with all hands lost.

Word was telegraphed to Jack’s widow Theresa in Tampa, and his commanding officer sent a note saying that eyewitnesses thought that he might be "possibly safe somewhere, that his plane may have reached occupied territory," said one newspaper. Theresa held out hope that he would miraculously return home and kept his uniform neatly stowed away in a closet.

But eventually Jack was declared killed in action and his remains considered "nonrecoverable." His name is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery in England. A classified Missing Air Crew Report was prepared and remained so until declassified in 1973. He was the son of John "Harold" and Elsie "Mit" (Vilas) Hayden Sr.

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