John Lester Mackey
662351

John Lester Mackey was born on 21 October 1918 in Bethlehem, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. John’s father was Elias Jones Mackey, a native of New Jersey. HIs highest level of education was 7th grade. John’s mother was Pearl Elizabeth Cunningham Mackey, also a native of New Jersey. She completed four years of high school. Elias and Pearl were married on 31 July 1912 in Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. On 20 November 1913, their son Sheldon Elias was born in Bethlehem, PA. Their daughter, Josephine Anna, was born in 1916, also in Bethlehem. John was the youngest of the three siblings. All attended school in Bethlehem.

At the time of the 1920 census, the family was residing in Bethlehem.. Elias was employed as a moulder for a steel plant. The family continued residing in Bethlehem through the time of the 1930 census. Elias was employed as the manager of a grocery store. Pearl was employed as a saleslady at a shoe store. John appears in the Liberty High School yearbook, the Cauldron, for the years 1935 and 1936. In 1935, John was a member of the dramatics club and appeared as Fritz Denkmahl in the operetta “High Jinks.” In 1936, John was noted as treasurer of the boys’ glee club. John’s senior photograph indicates that his nickname was “Mackey.” “Bethlehem seems to be very fortunate in being blessed with the presence of John. Ready at all times for fun and a good time is the secret of his having a large group of admirers. John is the enterprising jokes editor of the Cauldron. He is an accomplished singer - - - one of the deep basses of the glee club.” Activities noted were two years of glee club, two years of swimming and one year on the Cauldron staff.

Following high school, John enrolled in Moravian College For Men in Bethlehem, PA( following in the footsteps of his brother, Sheldon.) The 7 October 1936 Edition of The Morning Call (Allentown, PA) reported that John was elected president of the freshman class. The 1940 Moravian yearbook, Revista, summarizes a very busy four years. “John was a member of the basketball squad for the past three years, and noted chiefly for his good passing and close guarding tactics. He did not let athletics interfere with his musical ambition as he was a member of the Glee Club and the Quartette for four years.” “Mack usually kept the day-room in “stitches” with his jokes and wise cracks, and also showed the boys he was a good jitterbug.” John also participated in the College Blotter, Education Club, Footlights Club, German Club, intramural basketball and intramural football. He was a member of Beta Chapter of the Omicron Gamma Omega fraternity. John was varsity baseball manager his senior year. John graduated from Moravian in June 1940 along with 31 other students. John received a bachelor of arts degree with a major in German and he intended to pursue a teaching career. The author was unable to locate John in the 1940 census. However, his parents were still residing in Bethlehem. Elias was employed as an engineer for Federal Engineering Co. Phone directories indicate that Pearl was still a saleswoman, but that is not included in the census data. Brother Sheldon was living in Orwigsburg, PA and employed as a clergyman.

John registered for the draft on 16 October 1940. He was living at 633 7th Avenue in Bethlehem. He was described as 5’ 9”, 160 pounds, blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion. Between graduation and enlistment, John participated in the choir of the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. He was employed in the treatment department of the Bethlehem Steel. John enlisted on 6 November 1941 at Daniel Field in Augusta, Georgia. His height was noted to be 68 inches and his weight 156 pounds. John graduated as a navigator from Kelly Field, Texas on 15 July 1942, one year after his induction. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant. The 15 Jan 1943 issue of The Morning Call reported that John had been promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. His location was “somewhere in England.” John sent his parents a letter dated 19 January 1943. He wrote that they should “read the headlines” in an effort to deduce the location

John served with the 67th Bombardment Squadron, 44th Bomb Group, Heavy. The 44th was known as The Flying Eight Balls. According to the American Air Museum in Britain website, the 44th was activated on 15 Jan 1942 at McDill Field, Florida. The group moved to Barksdale Field, Louisiana flying anti-submarine patrols over the Gulf of Mexico and acting as a training unit. In July 1942, the 44th moved to Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma in preparation for deployment. In late September the group went to Cheddington, England. On February 15, 1943, John was aboard a B-24D Liberator 41-23783 named Betty Anne. John was serving as Navigator when the plane was shot down. Eleven men were aboard when the Betty Anne sustained severe damage while flying in the lead position over the target, the German Raider Togo, at Dunkirk, France. The aircraft crashed into the sea near Dunkirk. John was initially reported missing in action (MIA.) Captain/Pilot Arthur Cullen was wounded, made a prisoner of war and repatriated after 20 months. Co-pilot, Major Donald Waters MacDonald received a serious stomach wound, but escaped the plane. MacDonald died on the operating table of a German Luftwaffe hospital in France, with the designation KIA (Killed in Action.) Three other crew members were designated KIA: 2nd Lt. Paul D. Caldwell, T/Sgt. Samuel S Weiser and Sgt. James A. Hilley. Two crew members were designated MIA/KIA: T/Sgt. Albert W. Emery and S/Sgt. Thomas E. McKinsey. The remaining crew members became POWs: T/Sgt. David H. Wood, Sgt. Charles A. Arnold and Sgt. Jesse M. Norwood.

According to a 3 June 1943 article in The Morning Call, the Mackeys received word that John had died on 2 April in the European area. The message was relayed by the International Red Cross from the German government to the United States. A letter of explanation was to follow. The author was unable to find additional documentation. (See note at end.) All other records indicate 15 February 1943 as the date of death. That same article included notice that the War Department awarded John an air medal for “valor and exceptional performance in action against the enemy” on 14 May 1943. Members of the 44th also received a Distinguished Unit Citation for “an extremely hazardous mission against naval installations at Kiel on 14 May 1943.”

John’s final resting place is Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, Department du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. In August 1943 Moravian College dedicated a service flag to the 280 alumni in the armed forces. At that time, John was the only gold star. In 1944, the Moravian Alumni Association voted to erect a memorial to honor those in service. In April 1945, John’s church held a recital that included an organ performance of “In Memoriam,” that was written in John’s memory. In 1955, Elias and Pearl Mackey donated the flag which had draped John’s casket to Moravian College. The summer 2020 edition of Moravian Moment printed an article titled “The Moravian Dozen” by Nancy Rutman. John was one of twelve alumni who received a tribute to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII.

Thank you, John Lester Mackey, for your service and sacrifice for our freedom! It was an honor to write your story.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see https://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 Together We Served and 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.

Laura Hanaford - Contributing Author, Stories Behind the Stars

If you have any details, photos, or corrections for this story, please email Together We Served directly.

SBTS Project/Northampton/Pennsylvania

References:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56647152/john-l-mackey
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185791545/john-mackey
https://www.honorstates.org
https://www.ancestry.com (U.S. Census Records, Yearbooks, Pennsylvania US Veteran Compensation, Application Files, City Directories, Headstone and interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, U.S. World War II Draft Cards and Enlistment Records)
familysearch.com
https://www.findagrave.com
Genealogybank.com
Fold3.com
https://goldstarfamilyregistry.com
https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/person/john-l-mackey
Newspapers.com
John-l-mackey-missing
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44500794/john-l-mackey-former-member-of-choir/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44504726/john-l-mackey-stars-in-nativity-play/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44500131/treatment-department-holds-moment-of/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44508121/john-l-mackey-receives-ba-from-moravian/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44498386/lt-john-l-mackey-reported-dead/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44498636/moravian-students-mourn-death-of-lt/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44498908/23-northampton-county-men-die-in-first/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44507328/john-l-mackey-on-moravian-basketball/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44498132/john-l-mackey-awarded-air-medal/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44497621/john-l-mackey-promoted-to-air-force/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43563470/memorial-service-for-moravian-alumnus/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44504439/moravian-college-receives-memorial-flag/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44499864/service-flag-presented-during-moravian/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44506954/john-l-mackey-named-to-deans-list/?xid=865
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43565300/moravian-college-class-officers-chosen/?xid=865
https://www.moravian.edu/news/magazine/summer-2020/moravian-moment

Acknowledgements:
*Thank you to Cory W. Dieterly, University and Seminary Archivist for Moravian University for providing the photograph and details about John from the 1940 yearbook.
*Thank you to the uncredited newswriters of The Morning Call in Allentown, PA who provided details about John’s life.
*Thank you to the American Air Museum in Britain for providing “an interactive archive of images and information.” https://www.americanairmuseum.com/

NOTE:

The author found that Lt John Mackey was also memorialized at Pihen-les-Guines Communal Cemetery in Pihen-les-Guines, Department du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. This was found through a findagrave search for France which would not typically be done. Gravesite Details on the website include John’s military ID number and date of birth. It is recorded that John was found at Duenkirchen harbor (Dunkirk) on 2 April 1943. His death was estimated to be 3 months prior. There is also a note that details were “withheld out of respect to family.”

Mackey, John Lester, 1st Lt