Jack W. Thrasher served in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a First Lieutenant with the 349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomber Group, Heavy, during World War II. The pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress (#44-8220), he was killed in action on March 3, 1945, over Brunswick Germany, when he engaged with enemy aircraft. He held the plane steady while his men bailed out before the plane crashed. He is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Air Medal.
