William G. Jeakle
U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) 5th Air Force (5th AF)
475th Fighter Group (475th FG), 433nd Fighter Squadron (433nd FS)
P-38 Lightning Pilot
Background
William Glen Jeakle was born March 31, 1920 in Detroit, Michigan. He attended two years of college and was employed as a s draftsmen and resided in Wayne County in Michigan. On January 15, 1942 he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) as an aviation cadet with serial number 16029317. After completing flight training he earned his wings and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant with serial number O-664189.
Wartime History
Assigned to the 5th Air Force (5th AF), 475th Fighter Group (475th FG), 433rd Fighter Squadron (433rd FS) as a fighter pilot flying the P-38 Lightning.
Aerial victory claims
Jeakle is officially credited with three enemy aircraft shot down. His first victory claim was October 15, 1943. His second victory claim was November 16, 1943. His third victory claim was December 16, 1943 for a Zero over Arawe. After completing his tour of duty and 160 combat missions, Jeakle returned to the United States in September 1944.
Aerial Collision December 18 1943
On December 18, 1943 took off piloting P-38H "Regina Coeli" 42-66856 from North Borio Airfield (Dobodura No. 15) on a fighter sweep over Arawe. Over the target, Jeakle spotted an enemy fighter an prepared to attack when P-38 Lightning piloted by 1st Lt. Austin K. Neely accidentally collided with this plane. During the mid-air collision, Jeakle's right boom was damaged and he was last seen spiraling at 9,000' near the Pulie River roughly 15 miles north of Arawe. No parachute was observed. Neely's plane sustained propeller and wing damage but landed safely at Dobodura.
 [ View Interview Interview on YouTube ]
"My worst day was December 18th 1943. About this time i peeled right off behind a Zero. Got him... he was going to be deader than hell. I looked back to see if my guys are with me. Yeah, the boys were still behind me. Yeah, Pete is back there, the boys are back there. I look to the side, and 'oh my god' there is a P-38 staring me right in the face - right there. Staring me right in the face. And I shoved everything forward and just dumped everything. And I was hit. It felt like a Mac Truck. As soon as I was hit, I lost all control. Broke.. what he did, the wing of his plane cut through the right boom, and cut everything off, all my controls. I had no pedals, nothing at all. So the next thing I said was 'get outta that thing. I pulled the canopy, tripped the canopy. Which pulls pins back here to release the canopy, and it went back alright.
Someone had put a copper wire here, in the canopy back to hold the canopy from falling all the way back. But when I pulled the pins, i released the canopy all right, but now it was flailing back and forth because it was hooked on the front, flailing back and forth across the top of the cockpit. So, I had to unstrap the seat belt, and work to try and break that copper wire... to get the canopy out of the way.
 Meantime, the plane is all over the sky with no control to it at all. And, I try to get out, and the oxygen mask is still hooked up to me, I have to get that off. Then i realize the ear gadgets are still hooked up to me. So, the law was if you gotta get out of that thing [the P-38] don't just bail out. Because if you do that boom is going to hit you and break your back. So I scotched down on the side of the canopy, down on the wing. I looked back, and the whole thing is gone. The other part [boom] had broken off too, there were just two two stubs back there. So, I did not have to worry about the booms at all, so i let go.
I no sooner got floating down, and here come two Nips after me. And they went sailing ass by me - with their tracers and stuff whipping by me. How they missed me, I don't know. And they whipped out there and were coming around to get me again. I thought: 'This is no good. This is crazy!' To realized that at one moment your alive and the next moment you know your going to be dead... you just know your going to be dead.
 So, I pulled the shroud lines down, just dumping the shrouds down, just to get the hell down out of that area. Now I am free falling. Down I go. After I got down so far, I looked down and hell, I am almost on top of the trees! So, I let go of the chute. About that time it popped open, just as I hit the trees. I'm looking down and falling face forward, and i realize I still have about three floors to go. Three stories to go [approx 30']. So I try to get my feet underneath me, kick my feet underneath me. Just about then I hit the ground. This kneed went the wrong way, so that took care of that knee.
I was told if you get [shot] down on New Britain, head towards Rabaul, because possibly Aussie scouts or natives would help you. But I knew previously that the Marines are going to land at Cape Gloucester on Christmas Day. So I thought, the hell with that, I'm not going to go way up towards Rabaul, I will go towards Gloucester. And I tried to walk, but i could not walk very well. I was in bad, bad shape. So I thought the first thing I better do is hide my path, and walk down a stream... to get away from where I landed. So I started down this stream, the next thing I discovered this orange-yellow color dye that you had... that you broke so that if you went into the ocean... that's trailing behind me. So I had to get rid of that damn stuff!
I was in sago swamps is what I was in. That first night I remember trying to make a nest in the water with sago fronds, a big nest so I could sleep up on it, on top of the water.
4:24 PARTIAL INTERVIEW [ View Interview Interview on YouTube ]
Memorials
Jeakle passed away October 20, 2004.
Relatives
Suzanne Jeakle (granddaughter of William G. Jeakle)
"I just minutes ago learned that you found my grandfathers plane. We are very excited about this news. Its particularly poignant as we are still grieving his loss even though he has been gone 2.5 years now in 2004. My grandfather did extensive interviews that are on DVD, including one for the History Channel. At the time of his death he was living in Muncie, IN and had lived there for about 30 years. For the bulk of his life following the war he worked as an automotive engineer and was closely involved in the development of important technology such as the limited-slip differential. He had two children and 4 grandchildren. He lived to see two of his 4 great-grandchildren. In his 60s he became active in the 475th Fighter Group."
References
NARA World War II Army Enlistment Records - William G. Jeakle
USAF Historical Study No. 85 USAF Credits For The Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II Alphabetical: Jeakle, William G. page 97 (PDF page 104)
Possum, Clover & Hades (2004) page 104
YouTube "WWII Story: 10 days in the jungle" interview with William G. Jeakle October 15, 2006
248th Hike Sentai: A Japanese “Hard luck” Fighter Unit Part 3 by Richard Dunn
Thanks to Suzanne Jeakle, John Stanaway, John Douglas and Mark Reichman for additional information
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