Born in Arizona, Jack T. McWilliams grew up in Somers, Montana where his parents had moved. He was a graduate of the Flathead High School. In July of 1942, he enlisted in the Air Corps in Kalispell, Montana and completed his pilot training in Texas. After receiving his commission, he married Jean Bull on 6 May 1944 before leaving for the European Theater of Operations. A pilot in the 405th Fighter Squadron, he served during the Normandy invasion, in Southern France and in the Rhineland, Germany.

1st Lt. McWilliams was Pilot of P-47 #44-20149 lost on his 36th combat mission on the morning of 14 January 1945. The dive-bombing raid to Haguenau, France just west of the Rhine River, northwest of Baden-Baden, Germany, was led by Major Gavan C. Robertson Jr of Jackson, Mississippi. It was meant to support the troops of the US Army’s VI Corps area, engaged in hard fighting during Operation Nordwind, the last German offensive on the Western front during World War II in an attempt to retake the industrial zones in the Haguenau area as well as draw American troops from the Ardennes region where the Battle of the Bulge still raged.

After bombing the target, the 12 Thunderbolts of the formation were suddenly attacked by more than a dozen Me109s fighters. The German pilots relentlessly made quick pass and run attacks and Major Robertson called for the formation to break up, but shortly thereafter an Me109 fired a short burst at McWilliams’ plane. One of his P-47’s gas tanks was seen to explode, the plane started spinning and, according to Lt Malcolm McLeod’s statement, he saw it still spinning at about 5,000 feet when it disappeared from sight. Jack McWilliams was not seen to bail out of his stricken Thunderbolt.

He was officially declared dead in 1946, although he was still MIA (Missing In Action.)

[ He is listed as FOD (Found Officially Dead) in the WWII Casualties for Jackson County, Oregon at http://media.nara.gov/media/images/29/17/29-1608a.gif ]

On 4 January 1952, the U.S. Defense Department informed his parents that the remains of their son and his aircraft had been found in the Hatten Forest, Northeast of Haguenau in December 1951. His body arrived in Kalispell on 12 March 1952 and he was buried on Saturday the 15th in the Veterans section of the Conrad Memorial Cemetery, his parents, his wife Jean, his brother Gerald, aged 16 and a sister, Myrle, among others attending the funeral.