NAME: Davis, John Martin (m. Virginia Lee Myres)

OBIT: (d. Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana)

Funeral Will Be Held Thursday for Col. John Davis
 Funeral services for Col. John M. Davis, 40, 802 North Chester street, who died Monday at Billings General Hospital, will be held at 2 p. m. Thursday at Shirley Brothers Irving Hill chapel. Lt. Col. David Donohoo, Protestant chaplain at the hospital, will officiate and burial will be at Anderson cemetery on East Tenth Street.
 Col. Davis, became ill while serving on Leyte, during which time he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his work as executive communications officer for the Far East air forces signal corps. He returned to this country several months ago.
 The Bronze Star citation read in part, "Though he suffered from a severe and often painful malady which eventually caused hospitalization, Col. Davis worked incessantly at his manifold (communications) duties, succeeding in completing complex and detailed plans before the required target dates, making valuable contributions to the success of air operations in this theater."
 Col. Davis, native of Owen county, received his commission when he was graduated from Purdue University in 1926. He was transmission engineer for Indiana Bell Telephone Company nineteen years, making his home in Indianapolis during that time. February 9, 1941, he was called to active and in July, 1944, he went overseas.
 Col. Davis was a member of the Presbyterian church, the Masonic Lodge and Theta Chi Fraternity. Be is survived by the widow, Mrs. Virginia Davis; two daughters, Beverly and Linda Davis, Indianapolis; the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Davis, Spencer, and two brothers, Radioman 2-C Bruce Wilson, in the Pacific, and Renos Davis, Spencer.

CITATION:

Colonel John M. Davis, (0-229909), Signal Corps, United States Army.
  For meritorious achievemnt in connection with military operations against the enemy In the Southwest Pacific Area from 12 August 1944 to 10 April 1945. As executive to the Air Signal Officer, Far East Air Forces, Colonel Davis prepared long-range and operational communication plans and expertly effected overall co-ordination of signal activities. Thoroughly familiar with the most advanced thought in tactics and techniques and well acquainted with the newest developments in electronics, he was able to anticipate requirements and to formulate plans and projects for organizations and equipment. Though he suffered from a severe and often painful malady which eventually required hospitalization he worked incessantly at his manifold duties, succeeding in completing complex and detalled plans before the required target dates and making a valuable contribution to the success of air operations in the theatre. The technical knowledge, executive ability and devotion to duty displayed by Colonel Davis are worthy of recognition.

Official Hq. Far East Air Forces Adjutant General's Office

Award of the Bronze Star Medal published in General Orders No. 7969, (Headquarters, Far East Air Forces, 16 May 1945)
Colonel John Martin Davis
 Commissioned from ROTC at Purdue University 12 June 1926 - 2nd LT Field Artillery Reserve; Oct 1929 - 1st LT Field Artillery Reserve; 1935 - CAPT Field Artillery Reserve; 23 Dec 1940 - MAJOR Field Artillery Reserve; 4 Aug 1942 - LT COL Signal Corps; 23 Sept 1943 - COL Signal Corps.
 Active Duty Assignments: 9 Feb 41 - 7 Nov 41 Ft. Bragg, N.C. Executive Officer, 16th Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Training Reg; 27 Nov 41 - Assigned to temporary duty with 557th Signal Aircraft Warning Batt. to accompany them to Phillipine Islands; 6 Dec 41 - Sailed from San Francisco on the U.S.A.T. Tasker H. Bliss for Phillipines but returned to Seattle after Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor; 10 Dec 41 - 10 Feb 42 Ft Lawton, WA, Hdqtr. 2nd Interceptor Command; 13-16 Feb 42 Ft Leonard Wood, MO, Hdqtr. 182nd F.A.; 18 Feb - 3 Apr 42 Memphis, TN, Hdqtr. 2nd Army, G-2; 3 Apr 42 - July 44 - Assigned to Signal Corps, Orlando, FL, Army Air Force Tactical Center, Chief of Communications Dept, HQ 999 AAFBU; July 44 - Apr 45 Far East Air Force; 23 July - 29 Aug 44 Brisbane, Australia; 29 Aug 44 to Port Morseby, New Guinia; 30 Aug 44 to Hollandia, New Guinia; Nov 44 - Apr 45 - to Leyte, P.I. & Luzon, P.I. (while here, he contracted dengue fever but reacted negatively to the sulfa drug with which he was treated and developed aplastic anemia.; Apr 45 to Schick General Army Hospital, Clinton, IA; May 45 was returned to the US for hospitalization in Billings Hospital at Ft. Benjamin Harrison IN where he, basically, bled to death even though receiving massive transfusions and died 8-13-1945, 4 days after the Japanese agreed to surrender. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal published in General Orders No. 7969, (Headquarters, Far East Air Forces, 16 May 1945), which was given to his widow posthumously at Ft. Benjamin Harrison on 9-25-1945.