John E Caldwell (San Antonio, Fort Worth, Brownwood: houses, living, military)

[j.kuyten]

Hello,

I am Jack Kuyten from the Netherlands .
I recently adopted the grave of John E Caldwell Jr. (Military Cemetery Margraten)

This adoption gave our visits an extra dimension. Whenever we visit the grave of John it feels like visiting the final resting place of a relative or very dear friend.
A place we will never forget.

I would like to get to know him as much as possible so his grave can mean even more to me, more than just a name of one of my heroes.

Its about 1 LT John E. Caldwell Jr. ( ID O-735265 ) from Tarrant County, Texas who was born on 18 nov 1918.
He deid in a plane crash on 22 febr 1944 in Europe (Germany), his unit was 367 BombSq /
306 Bomb Gp/H/.
John was bombardier on a B-17G, his base was Thurleigh England.
His adress was 117 Sandoval Street San Antonio

I realy hope anyone can help me or know someone else.

Thank you very much

Greetings,

Jack Kuyten

[majormadmax]

Jack

Let me see what I can do. I am retired USAF and work on Lackland AFB here in San Antonio. We just returned from three years in Belgium in 2005, and we traveled to The Netherlands quite often. It is a very nice country.

I am also a military aviation history buff, so I will see if I can track down more info on Lt Caldwell. Please PM me with an email address so I can send whatever I find directly to you, instead of posting it on here.

Cheers! M2

[majormadmax]

By the way, have you tried this site??

The Wartime Memories Project - RAF Thurleigh

Cheers! M2

[majormadmax]

Jack

Unfortunately, it appears his address is San Antonio is now a park of some sorts. I did a quick search using Yahoo maps and it does not show any houses on that street...

Cheers! M2

[TXtrkgrl]

I did a search for that address on bcad.org and it looks like it is just a lot now and it belongs to Rainbo Baking Co.

Sorry I couldn't help you further. I will try to do some more searching.

BTW, I think it is great how you adopted a grave, I didn't know you could do that.

[wCat]

I have some info on his family. It's rather mundane, but it tells you about him and his ancestry.

John E. Caldwall Jr was born Nov 18, 1918 in Brownwood, Tx to John E and Lenora Caldwell. He had at least two brothers, James A Caldwell and H.D. Caldwell....both who may have also served in the military in WWII.

His family goes way back to the early statehood of Texas. His father John E Caldwell was born in Texas in 1887. His mother, Lenora was born in Alabama.
His father owned his own farm and was a stock raiser (cattleman).

John E. Caldwell Jr. enlisted on Oct 28, 1940 in Fort Worth, Texas. He joined the Army Air Corp and was initially stationed in Alaska. It says he was single with no dependents when he enlisted. He was 5'5" tall and weighed 120 lbs.

He flew with the 367th Bomber Squadron 106th Bomber and died in the Netherlands on Feb 22, 1944. He was awarded the Purple Heart Medal and the Air Medal in his short career in the military.

His father, John E Caldwell was one of six sons...all born in Texas. His grandfather, James R Caldwell....was also born in Texas in 1855 in Williamson County, TX.

John E. Caldwell Jr's great grandfather came to Texas somewhere before 1849...when Texas was only a new state of 2-3 years. His great grandfather was T.J. Caldwell....who was born in Tennessee about 1812!

The San Antonio address that you have was probably temporary living quarters while he was stationed overseas.

His family heritage is from a long line of farming stock and go back to the early colonies of the United States. They had to be very strong and resilient to have survived 100 years in Texas in the very rough and early days. They were hard working and owned all their land and homes.

Thank you for taking care of the grave of one of our veterans! I wish I could find a distant niece or nephew that would be happy to know that their family member is being cared for so well.

Warm regards!

[majormadmax]

Jack

If you see this before you see my email, you will realize I found your email address while doing research on Lt Caldwell...

I have a friend who is checking with the USAF Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB in Alabama, I will let you know what he finds out.

By the way, was Lt Caldwell killed in Germany or the Netherlands? You said Germany, but the info above says The Netherlands. Plus that is where he is buried. I suspect he may have been on a raid over Germany, but crashed in The Netherlands while returing...

And thanks to everyone who has helped with this, as a vet it is nice to see folks who care about us, past and present!

Cheers! M2

[wCat]

Thank you too, Major! I hope you have good results out of Maxwell!

[j.kuyten]

I want to thank everyone very much for the information about
John E. Caldwell.
It helped me I lot to know him, and his family a little better.
I realise that it is just the beginning of my quest for John,
but I appreciated all the reactions very much.

When someone has in the future more information about Jonn Caldwell,
it would be great when he let me know.

I will proceed my quest here form The Netherlands

Thanks!

Jack

[j.kuyten]

majormadmax

1st LT John Caldwell crashed with his B-17G in the vicinity of Herchen (Germany) 22 febr 44 when they where returning to the base Thurleigh England.
He is buried on the American Cemetery of Magraten in the Netherlands
plot H row 6 grave 5

Regards

Jack