1st Lt. J.V. Scanlan

47th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group

The story of 1st Lt. Scanlan is one which truly exemplifies the horrors of war. He joined the 47th Fighter Squadron from his training at Luke Field in Arizona, with many of his classmates. This included his good friend R.S. Scamara. Arriving on Iwo Jima in late February 1945 with the ground echelon of the squadron, Scalan eventually started flying missions in March 1945 after the P-51’s arrived. On June 23, on a VLR fighter strike to Shimodate airfield, Scanlan took off as Yellow 4, flying wingman to Scamara. During a fierce air battle, Scamara and Scanlan got separated from their flight. Scamara later would recall that Scanlan somehow stuck to him like glue as he maneuvered. At one point, two Japanese (“George”) fighter aircraft pulled in directly behind Scanlan and began to fire, striking Scanlan’s P-51 wings in the gun positions. With his ammunition and fuel tanks exploding and causing fire to his Mustang, Scanlan jumped out of the airplane,. He was seen by Scamara to have a good ‘chute’ on his way down to the enemy territory, which was about twenty miles northwest of Tokyo. Sadly, he was never seen or heard from by an American again. After the war, an investigation found that after parachuting to the ground, Scanlan had been quickly been found and taken by the Japanese local police. The police then turned him over to the villagers nearby. Basically turning their heads, the villagers proceeded to savagely beat and torture Scanlan until he died later that day. His remains were thrown in a makeshift grave in the village cemetery at the time, until eventually being located and unearthed during the investigation by the US War Department.

Included below are some photos of Scanlan, including during his stateside training, as well as some documents and newspaper clippings. His official Missing Air Crew Report is also presented.