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matt DeGennaro
7/29/2005 2:38:17 AM | my name is matt DeGennaro,i am a 14 year veteran of the NYPD, my wife Nicole's grandfather was Jack Toulson Sharp of Rochester NY/ Lebanon Oregon. Jack passed away on 7-15-2005 at the age of 85. Jack was given a full military honors funeral by the honor guard from the USAF Mcchord AFB Oregon. As far as I know jack enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943 and was a ball turret Gunner/ communications tech with the 401st bombing group H 613th squadron. He completed 22 missions and participated in the D-Day invasion. As far as we know Jacks plane/crew were shot down on or about July 19th 1944 over Angers France. And was a POW in Stalag Luft III until he was released after bieng marched to Munich germany. Jack was recalled for the Korean war And re-enlisted in the USAF, he also served 22 months in Vietnam. Jack retired from the USAF in 1972 as a Senior Master Sgt. My wife and her family have very little information about Jacks service in WWII, due to his reluctance to talk about his experiences. And for the last 4 or so years of his life Jack suffered from severe alzhiemers. I know what a great man Jack was and all the veterans who have served this country, but I would like to find out more information about him and the incredible men he served with but as i stated the information is hard to come by. I would greatly appreciate any and all information anyone can give me with what little information i provided. I want to create a shadow box for my wife with the shell casing from Jacks 21 gun salute, and want to include photo's of Jack with his crew, possibly of his aircraft/s and names of aircrafts he served on. Also i would like to see if there are any crew members still around who would remeber him or know anything about him. I am only begining this journey but hope that there is at least one person out there who knew jack or something about him, his crew, planes etc. Please email me or call me anytime if anybody can help me. My email is mattandnicoled@optonline.net or fatguynltlecoat@aol.com my cell phone # is 917 517 7767. please help me if you can. Once again his name is SMSGT Jack Toulson Sharp 401st Bombing Group H 613th squadron. Enlisted 1943 ball turret gunner/comm tech shot down over Angers France on/about July 19 1944, pow stalag LuftIII. at least 22 missions. thank you all for your time and patience and i look forward to hearing from someone. Sincerely Matt DeGennaro
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Mike Reiner
7/29/2005 7:08:39 PM | Matt
Found some information on this site at link below. Looks like serial # for his aircraft was 44-6129. Report shows they took heavy flak and went down in Augsburg. There are others in this forum who can probably help you better than I can with the serial number.
He sounded like a great man!
http://www.401bg.com/history/crew.asp?cid=11531
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Clyde L Mings
8/22/2005 10:09:24 PM | I was a radio-gunner on Kuta's crew on the Madame Queen IN-Q in the 613th. Jack and a couple of other guys and I went on pass to London and as is too often the case, the money ran out and I had to loan Jack and another crew member( Hill) two pounds each to get us all train tickets back to Deenthorpe. Somewhere I still have a notebook with the notation and a line through their names and "shot down". I saw his name in the Black 401st Book. but didnt write him to renew our contact, and now it is too late.I too stayed for a career and came out as CMSGT and "hip-pocket " direct Reserve Captain but preferred to do a job I loved on B-29's and then as avionics manager for B-47's for a dozen years.I will look thru our pics made on pass in London and will let you know if he is on any of them.I found our waist gunner 54 years later, so you guys out there might give a GOOGLE search for those you would like to find. Regards--
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Jackie
8/25/2005 1:11:27 PM | Hello Clyde,
I was delighted to hear you remembered Dad. I am curious about one thing. What is the Black 401st Book? I found a Blue book among his papers but he is not in it. Was it printed in a certain year? Hill has also passed away and I was not sure if you were aware of that. If you should find any pictures of Dad or any of the rest of his crew I would love to have copies of them. I have been working on a project to honor Dad and I am all done except for finding additional pictures.It sounds as if you loved the service as much as Dad. He was in almost 30 years.
I hope you had a good time on your pass to London.
Sincerely,
Jackie (Sharp) Sheflin
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Donna Sharp-Noble
9/1/2005 3:31:28 PM | Thank you so much for your information about my father. Every piece of info we find is one more brick to add to his memoirs. He led a very amazing and interesting life, and I only wish I had asked him more about it while he was still here. He was truly an amazing man, and very quiet about his accomplishments. Thank you again and please let us know anything you remember, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem to be. We appreciate your help.
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