Lieutenant Junior Grade John Harding Coyne, U.S. Navy

Born June 14, 1920, Jack Coyne attended school and high school at Winnetka, Illinois, then attended Cornell University at Ithaca, NY. He enlisted on October 11, 1941 from his hometown of Evanston, IL., became an Aviation Cadet April 27, 1942, trained at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, was commissioned as an Ensign on November 1, 1942, assigned to Naval Air Station Miami, Florida., promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade on January 1, 1944, reassigned to Naval Auxiliary Air Station Green Cove Springs, Florida and later trained in fighter squadron operations at Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Virginia. While serving as a pilot of F6F Hellcats, flying with squadron VOF-1 off the escort carrier USS TULAGI (CVE-72), Coyne was killed in action on August 21, 1944, over France.

On June 15, 1944 Tulagi began receiving 28 new F6F-5s Hellcats on board. VOF-1 officially entered the war on August 15, 1944 when Tulagi launched several of the squadron’s Hellcats on spotting missions. On D-Day, the USS Tulagi steamed in formation 45 miles off the invasion beach; and, at 0546, she launched her first flight of Hellcats. In the next week, aircraft from Tulagi flew a total of 68 missions and 276 sorties, inflicting considerable damage to the enemy at various targets ashore, including gun emplacements and railway facilities and then sailed into the Mediterranean.

On August 21, 1944, Tulagi’s last day in support of Operation Anvil-Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France, German forces were in retreat before the Allied thrust. Strafing flight #63, consisting of eight F6F-5s Hellcats, took off at 13:15 from the deck of the USS Tulagi and were successful in their assigned attack on a fleet of four barges on the Rhone River. Six, including Coyne, were then directed towards Nimes, France. On the way they strafed several small groups of motor trucks which were found on the roads. They turned north in the direction of Sainte-Anastaise and strafed and attacked another 100 motor trucks that were found in five groups along the road. They went as far north as Uzes, but the weather started close in and they turned south. Northwest of Nimes they strafed a train and left its locomotive disabled with clouds of steam escaping. In all these attacks, 50 trucks were considered certainly destroyed and 50 more damaged. Tulagi’s fliers devastating attacks on the German convoys snarled roads for miles and crowned their achievements of the day by downing three Junkers Ju-52 transports.

At about 14:20 while pulling out of a rocker run on a large motor trucks convoy near Sainte-Anastasie, B plane, nose #8, #58263 was seen to disintegrate in the air. The convoy contained many troops who were shooting back with small arms and light guns. The pilot, LTjg J.H. Coyne, was observed leaving the cockpit about 600 feet above the ground. His parachute opened only a few seconds before he reached the ground but he did not survive his fall. His landing point was only a few hundred yards from enemy troops who had just been strafed by the Hellcats.

Evidence at the site showed Lt. Coyne crashed in the Panissieres Woods, near the town of Sainte-Gervasy. During several days, the body of the pilot was left at the site of the crash, left there by German sentries. After the German sentries left some days later, the body was found by a hunter on August 30, 1944, who notified the police. An investigation identified the pilot as Coyne. A statement made years later, signed June 20, 1946 by Georges Taillefer, Mayor of Sainte-Gervasy, confirmed one American plane crashed on the border between the communities of Sainte-Gervasy and Cabrieres about August 21, 1944. On July 15, 1946, LTjg John Harding Coyne was interred at Epinal American Cemetery, Dinoz (Vosges) northeastern France, Plot A, Row 27, Grave 60.

During operations in support of Anvil-Dragoon, VOF-1 aviators flew a total of 122 missions, consisting of 74 air patrol sorties, 96 air spotting sorties and 258 fighter-bomber/armed reconnaissance sorties. Six German aircraft were shot down in air combat 23 locomotives were either damaged or destroyed, and 601 motor vehicles were claimed either damaged or destroyed. Flak was encountered on nearly every mission and accounted for three losses in VOF-1.

LTjg Coyne was awarded the Purple Heart Medal, the Air Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal, the Europe-Africa-Middle East Medal with one bronze star for the Southern France campaign, the World War II Victory Medal and later the Navy Combat Action Ribbon.

On September 14, 2002, a marble marker memorial was dedicated in the town square of Cabrieres, France, to Navy LTjg John Harding Coyne, attended by members of his family, an American delegation, a French General and the citizens of Cabrieres. The family was also presented a gear from Coyne’s Hellcat, a small piece of his plexiglass cockpit windshield and some of his parachute cord. Those items and his awards have been memorialized in a shadow box honoring his service. His service has also been honored in the WWII Memorial, the U.S. Navy Memorial, and the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor.

Considerable information for this Memorial is credited to Mr. Marcel Ertal, a French researcher and retired career airman in the French Air Force. His love of flying and admiration for the U.S. pilots that died in the Liberation of Southern France, led him to researching and locating the sites of the crashes and deaths.