John Howarth and Maggie Aggiss from MHAS recently hosted a visit by John Des Jardin and his wife, from Green Bay Wisconsin in the US, to undertake a ‘special pilgrimage’ visit to see where his late Uncle, James Des Jardin, was based in the Second World War. James flew a P51 Mustang from Martlesham toward the end of 1944, but sadly was killed in action on 25th November 1944 whilst strafing a railway, engines and goods wagons in the Fulda area. His aircraft was hit by ground fire and he crashed nearby.
Sadly, James had lost his older brother 10 weeks earlier when his B17 crashed and James had only just celebrated his 21st birthday 2 weeks before he too lost his life.
As well as the museum, we were able to talk about the USAAF presence at Martlesham Heath, show him his uncle’s name on the USAAF Memorial in Barrack Square and also show the entry of James Des Jardin in our USAAF Role of Honor.
Our thanks to John Howarth, pictured here with John Des Jardin, for the photos and information.
