My grandparents, Earl and Bertha Sweet, had five children, one daughter and four sons. John Curtis was the fifth child, the baby of the family. He enjoyed athletics, playing basketball in high school and managing his brother Allen's baseball team. I never met my Uncle John because he died before I was born, but he has been an integral part of my family. My grandparents, my mother, and my uncles never stopped grieving his loss. When my grandfather was in his later years, he entrusted John's school and war memorabilia to me for preservation. Staff Sergeant John C. Sweet was a member of a B-24 (Liberator) bomber which departed from Pandaveswar, India on a bombing mission to Moulmein, Burma, on October 22, 1944. Over the Gulf of Martaban, his plane collided with another aircraft falling and exploding on contact with the water. All aboard were listed as missing in action. For his service to our Country, he was awarded the Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, American Theater Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Theater Medal with two bronze stars for participating in both the China Defensive and the India-Burma Campaigns, World War II Victory Medal, Aerial Gunner Aviation Badge, and the Second Class Gunner Badge with Aerial Gunner Bar. Staff Sergeant John C. Sweet is remembered on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines, as well as in the Sweet Family plot in Landaff, New Hampshire. Peace to him and all those brave individuals who served before and after in an effort to keep us safe.

Judy VonFeldt, Niece