1st Lt. Jack F. Meyer

When World War Two broke out in 1939, Germany had invaded Poland. Many countries tried to stay out of the war, including the United States. Because of the surprising attack on the United States military base, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, America was forced to face the facts and get involved. America declared war against the Japanese on December 8th, 1941, with the famous speech given by Franklin D. Roosevelt, asking Congress to declare war. Soon the war would become a world-wide conflict, making it the most horrific dispute known to man. Millions and Millions of men enrolled in the armed forces all around the world, sadly over 70 million of those men would be added to the list of war casualties, Jack F. Meyer was among those found dead.
In Omaha, NE, on February 11th, 1918, Jack F. Meyer entered the world, born to Mr. and Mrs. Fred G. Meyer. The Meyer family lived in the heart of Dundee, at 4917 Burt Street. Close by was the neighborhood school, Dundee. As a child, Jack Meyer attended the elementary school until he moved on to high school. At the time of his attendance, Dundee Elementary still went through til grade 8. Jack Meyer spent all of his grade school years at Dundee. Once Jack left Dundee, he moved on to the famous and amazing, Central High. Jack became one of the many proud Central eagles.
While in High School, Jack was a pretty average student, receiving mostly C's, in Military Drill Jack received A's all four years. Jack's teachers gave him mostly good and fair marks on his transcript. Jack was involved in many clubs and actives throughout the school. In the Cadet Officers' Club, C.O.C, Jack was a Captain and Quartermaster his Senior year. Jack was involved in the Motor Club, the Crack Platoon, and Military Drill. But Jack Meyer's high school career wasn't all ROTC, he was also involved in sports and entertainment. He played basketball and Football his freshmen and sophomore years, also in Intramural sports his Senior year. Jack was a member of the Road Show both his Junior and Senior years. Jack became involved with the Register, he became a Register Rep. his sophomore year and was on the Register Staff, as a reporter, his Senior year first semester.
Jack graduated from Central High in June, with the class of 1936. Jack sent his transcript to two colleges in Nebraska, University of Nebraska and Creighton University. I am not sure what college, if he went, he finally decided on. The next few years after high school, up to the war, little was found on Jack's life. My first step was to visit Mrs. Bauer to get Jack's records while in high school. Mrs. Bauer was very helpful with Jack's high school career and how to look up other facts about his life, I went down and visited her a few more times because she was very nice and helpful. My next step was to look what information the Central High Foundation , CHF, might have. Terry Price, and volunteers, were unable to locate any information about Jack Meyer or his family. I did have a chance to look through the foundations old year books, finding his graduating class. The CHF also helped by finding a list men that were involved with ROTC at Central High during the time that Jack attended. I sent out letters and emails to these men hoping that I would maybe obtain some useful information. Two of the men wrote me back by email saying that they went to Central after Jack Meyer's time and could not help me with my research. Research seemed to lead no where, it was as if Jack Meyer didn't even exist. I tried calling the colleges that Jack might have gone to, the colleges kept on giving me different numbers and names to call, no one seemed to know how to get a hold of a students records while in college. I also tried calling Dundee, like before, I had to call all around just to find out that I could not access someones personal records without their approval. Since Jack and the rest of his family are now deceased, there was no way that I could access the records. Looking up his name on war sites didn't help. Many genealogy websites like, Ancestry and Archives, failed to provide the information that I was looking for. Even looking at library in the residential and obituary files, nothing turned up.
Yet there was still hope, when visiting the DCHS at Fort Omaha, Metro Campus, I finally found what I was looking for. After searching through old news paper clippings, I came across Jack Meyer's obituary. This was the gold mine. The tiny article held information about his death and burial. There was a part at the beginning of the article that told the readers Jack Meyer's home base. At first I thought that this is where his family was living, and where he was buried. Though, through research I found that the article was referring to the army base where he was located in Luke Field, Arizona. Luke Air Force Base was where Jack had spent his time during the war. He was a pilot for the United States Air Force. The base was named after a former resident, Lieutenant Frank Luke, who fought in WW1 and became the first U.S. Aviator to receive the Medal of Honor. With help from accident- report and aviation archaeology, I was able to find his accident reports, giving the reason of death and the day he deceased.
On April 21st, 1944, Jack Meyer's life was cut short at the age of 26. He died while fighting for his country; his plane crashed, killing him. He would leave behind his mother, father, and two sisters. He died a noble and honorable way. Jack's memory will live on, along with the many other men lost in the war, as the brave men and women who gave up everything for the safety of their country. Willing to put their own lives on the line so that we would not have to. For their great acts, great or small, America will always be internally grateful for their sacrifice.

Jack F. Meyer's Senior quote: “ Of military trend is Jack, and once started he ne'er turns back.”