Jack Winston Engman was born on June 24, 1918 in Utah. His parents Arvid and Emma were born in Sweden and Utah, respectively. His father worked as a draughtsman and later as a civil engineer. Jack had an older brother. After completing four years of high school, he found work as a clerk.

He enlisted in the Army Air Forces on September 26, 1941 as an aviation cadet. He was selected to be a fighter pilot and was trained to fly P-47 Thunderbolts. His first assignment took him to Aleutian Islands for 14 months.

Jack married Mary Ann Coblentz in July 1943.

He then became a captain in the 391st Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force. His unit arrived in England in January 1944. Once it became operational in March, its main focus was ground attacks to destroy motor convoys and gun emplacements. He was almost shot down by friendly fire while flying over the invasion force on D-Day.

The mission on July 27, 1944 was to support the armored columns breaking out of the St. Lo area. After a successful mission destroying German halftracks, Captain Engman's plane was seen on fire. His fellow pilots saw him jump from his plane but his parachute did not open.

His grave is at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. His widow remarried after the war.

Thank you Captain Engman for your sacrifice.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Jack W Engman