When John Oesterling Whitaker was born on May 29, 1918, in Wheeling, West Virginia, his father, George, was 27 and his mother, Marie, was 25. He had two brothers and two sisters. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I as a Second Lieutenant in the 418th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group (H). Co-pilot of the B17F 'Picklepuss', S/N 42-30063, they led the 481th Squadron which was assigned to bomb the Messerschmitt factory at Regensburg, Germany. The mission plan was that after the bomb run, the group was to continue east and land in Africa. However, enroute to Regensburg they were attacked by a squadron of ME 109's. One of the German fighters took out one of the engines on the Pickelpuss. The plane couldn't keep up with the group anymore and the crew decided to turn around and fly back to their base at Thorpe Abbots in England. After about 15 minutes of flying, they were intercepted by another squadron of ME 109's who managed to set the bomber on fire. Shortly thereafter the plane blew up. Shot down by enemy fighters (Hauptmann Von Bonin, Oberleutnant Barte and Leutnant Witzke), the aircraft crashed at Herbesthal Lontzen, 500 meters west of Schmalgraf, near Kelmis, west of Aachen, in Belgium. Four of the crew survived and spent almost two years as prisoners of war at POW camps in Germany. Whitaker was one of the six victims who perished. He was originally buried at Eupen, then at Henri-Chapelle and finally repatriated to the United States. He is now buried in Greenwood Cemetery Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.ancestry.com, www.abmc.gov, http://www.warmuseums.net/Pages/belgium_me_detailed12.html, http://www.aircrewremembered.com/knox-robert.html