• UT Junior College 1938-1939
• Captain Army Air Corps
• Memorialized by Oakwood Cemetery in Brownsville, TN
• 461 Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force
• Casper Air Field in Wyoming 
• Moved to Mediterranean theater in Spring of 1944 flying B-24s
• Began combat operations hitting strategic objectives in April 1944

John William Dickinson Jr. (March 26, 1920 – May 24, 1944) was from Brownsville in Haywood County, Tennessee. He attended the University of Tennessee’s Junior College from 1938 to 1939. He joined the Army Air Corps during the war and conducted his training with the 461st Bombardment Group at Casper Airfield in Wyoming at the rank of Captain. Capt. Dickinson Jr was assigned to the 766th Squadron flying B-24s when the group was moved to the Mediterranean Theater as part of the 15th Air Force in the Spring of 1944. The 461st specialized in targeting strategic targets such as communication and industrial locations when they began operations in April 1944. Capt. Dickinson Jr. was assigned as a co-pilot to 1st LT Robert Bigelow in the first line of B-24s during a mission targeting Wiener Neustadt Wollersdorf Airdrome near Vienna, Austria on May 26, 1944. The 766th Squadron encountered heavy flak and German fighter opposition on their approach to Wiener Neustadt in addition to excessive cloud coverage. Twenty-three B-24s were damaged by anti-aircraft fire and another two were destroyed by enemy aircraft. Capt. Dickinson Jr. was killed alongside the 1st LT. Bigelow when their plane was struck by anti-air flak. Captain John Dickinson Jr. is memorialized at Oakwood Cemetery in Brownsville, Tennessee.

Back to Veterans Memorial Page