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Remember...John Everal Finlayson
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John Everal Finlayson was born September 20, 1923, in Shinnston, Harrison County, West Virginia to John Livingstone Finlayson and Byrd Olive Whiteman Finlayson. He had two older sisters, Elizabeth Gwen and Jean Louise. Known as "Jack," he graduated from Shinnston High School in 1942 and entered West Virginia University. Interested in aviation since the age of seven, and planning to study aeronautical engineering, he also enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a cadet-in-training. On July 8, 1944, he married Delores Elaine Taylor in Waycross, Georgia.
Because the U.S. was in the middle of a war, there was little time for theoretical studies; soon Jack was on active duty, assigned to the 343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force. He piloted a P-51D Mustang fighter aircraft, nicknamed "Ellie-My Little Six." Finlayson's fighter squadron escorted bombers and supported ground combat operations, notably during the invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. During the return of an escort mission from Germany over the English Channel on January 18, 1945, Finlayson's aircraft dropped out of formation, and he was never seen again. A year and a day after his disappearance, the military issued an FOD—Finding of Death.
| First Lieutenant Finlayson was awarded the Purple Heart and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. He is memorialized at the Cambridge American Cemetery in England, the Shinnston Veterans Memorial in Harrison County, in the family plot at the local Shinnston cemetery, and on the West Virginia Veterans Memorial in the state capital. A cenotaph in the West Virginia National Cemetery acknowledges his service. |  |
For a more comprehensive story of his life, visit his biography page, written by Ruby Hendrickson and Haley Biggins, at the West Virginia Humanities Council's National Cemeteries Project, https://wvhumanities.org/wp-content/national_cemeteries/Finlayson_John_Everal-USAAF.pdf
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
