Thomas Walter Jackson was a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot and squadron commander who served in the Aleutian Islands campaign during World War II. Thomas Walter "Walt" Jackson was born March 17, 1916 in Green Mountain, Iowa to Thomas Clarence and Bess Sellers Jackson who were farmers. He had an older sister, Frances, who was born in 1914. Jackson graduated from Green Mountain High School then attended University of Iowa for a year. Jackson completed a second year of college at Iowa State University, studying aeronautical engineering. He married Helen Jane "Tyke" Klinger on June 1, 1940 and their daughter, Barbara, was born May 6, 1942.

In July 1938, Jackson enrolled in the United States Army Air Corps Flying school at Randolph Field, Texas and received an honorable discharge on May 25, 1939 while at Kelly Field, Texas. Also in 1939, he became a Second lieutenant in the Air Corps Reserve and was stationed at Barksdale Field, Louisiana. From 1939-1940 he was at Moffett Field, California and was promoted to First lieutenant. In January 1941, the 54th Pursuit Squadron, 343rd Fighter Group was activated and a month later Jackson became squadron commander. Jackson was promoted to Captain in early 1942. In April 1942, Jackson led a secret mission of four Lockheed Martin P-38 Lightnings to Alaska to assess flying conditions and in May 1942 he was called to the front lines in Alaska, as part of the World War II Aleutians Islands campaign. By June 1942, the squadron was at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage, Alaska. He received commendations for attempting to locate a transport plane and its crew that went missing near Cold Bay, Alaska in early July 1942. By late July/early August 1942, they had moved to Fort Glenn, Unmak Island and in early September to Adak Island.

On September 14, 1942 the squadron was part of the first large, coordinated air offensive against Kiska. Major Thomas Walter Jackson and Lt. Dewey Crowe were killed when their aircraft collided over North Head Bay while chasing an enemy aircraft.

Source:

Biography derived from donor information and collection material.

In the Battle of the Aleutian Islands (June 1942-August 1943) during World War II (1939-45), U.S. military fought to remove Japanese garrisons established on a pair of U.S.-owned islands west of Alaska. In June 1942, Japan had seized the remote, sparsely inhabited islands of Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands. It was the only U.S. soil Japan would claim during the war in the Pacific. The maneuver was possibly designed to divert U.S. forces during Japan’s attack on Midway Island (June 4-7, 1942) in the central Pacific. It is also possible the Japanese believed holding the two islands could prevent the U.S. from invading Japan via the Aleutians. Either way, the Japanese occupation was a blow to American morale. In May 1943, U.S. troops retook Attu and three months later reclaimed Kiska.

Sources and Further Reading:

From history.com article. Online: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-aleutian-islands

Aleutian Islands World War II. Online: https://www.nps.gov/aleu/index.htm

Aleutian Islands World War II: Unit Scrapbooks and Histories: 54th Fighter Squadron History. Online: https://www.nps.gov/aleu/learn/historyculture/upload/54th-FS-history-all-pgs-508.pdf

Cloe, John Haile. The Aleutian warriors: a history of the 11th Air Force & Fleet Air Wing 4. Anchorage: Anchorage Chapter, Air Force Association and Pictorial Histories Publishing co., 1990.