John H. Eakin Dies In Crash

Lieutenant John H. Eakin, son of Mr. and Mrs. Willard Eakin of Akron, Ohio, was killed last week in a crash between two army pursuit planes, Arlington friends learned last Thursday. Eakin was a grandson of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Eakin, at whose home in Arlington he had often visited, and other relatives in that vicinity were an aunt, Mrs. Myron Cook, and C. C. Cook and Curtis Cook.

U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca. 1775-2006: Source Ancestry.com

Name: John Hill Eakin

Service Info.: 1st Lt Air Corps US Army

Death Date: 6 Feb 1941

Cemetery: Arlington National Cemetery

Cemetery Address: C/O Director Arlington, VA 22211

Buried At: Section South Site 2554 Eh

Pilot Tribune 13 Feb 1941

Former Countian is Killed as Planes Collide in Flight

Lieutenant John H. Eakin, formerly of Arlington, was killed last Thursday night in a crash of two army pursuit planes during maneuvers at Farmingdale, New York.

A message containing news of his death sent by his mother, Mrs. Willard Eakin, was addressed to Lieutenant Eakin’s aunt, Mrs. Myron Cook, at Arlington, but was received by other relatives due to the fact that Mrs. Cook was in Colorado.

Lieutenant Eakin lost his life when his plane and that of Lieutenant Joseph Laycock collided while flying in a “V” formation over Mitchell field. Laycock succeeded in clearing his plane and landing safely with his parachute. Eakin’s parachute caught on the plane and was not freed soon enough to save him.

The dead man’s father, Willard Eakin, was secretary to the late Senator Gilbert M. Hitchcock during his first term.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~