By 1943, Maj. John Jerstad could have just gone home to Racine, Wisconsin and nobody would have faulted him. After all, he’d already earned rapid promotion in the U.S. Army Air Corps, a chest full of medals for bravery — including the Distinguished Flying Cross — and finished far more than his required 25 bombing missions; so many, indeed, that he’d lost count himself. He’d more than earned his ticket back to the states.
When he heard of the upcoming low-level bombing mission against the oil refineries at Ploieşti, Romania, he volunteered to lead a formation.
On August 1, 1943, he led his B24 bomber against overwhelming odds as 230 anti-aircraft guns and 400 fighters descended down on the formation.
As they approached the target, his bomber was hit several times, bursting it in flames. Jerstad could have landed but chose to continue with the mission.
Flying at tree top level, he managed to release his payload and then climbed to 300 ft in order get his crew to bail out. At that point, a few men – variously reported as three or four – jumped out, their bodies afire, flames spreading out in the wind. The plane slewed over its right wing and plummeted to the ground, missing a bomber in the second element by a mere six feet. Everyone aboard died that day.
The mission ended with five Airmen, including Jerstad and his pilot Addison Baker, earning the Medal of Honor; the most for any single air action in history.
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