Jack Holsclaw ’35

Tuskegee Airman

Inducted 2014

After graduating from NC, Jack attended Whitworth College for a year before transferring to Washington State College. His senior year he transferred to Western State College in Portland, where he completed the chiropractic program in 1942. While attending school in Portland, Jack trained for and earned his private pilot license. He was ready to serve his country when World War II began raging. 

After entering the Army in October 1942, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Force, and, along with other black trainees, was sent to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama for flight school. On completing training, his group of Tuskegee pilots was sent to an airfield near Naples, Italy, in December 1943. There they flew the P-51 Mustang, the fastest and most powerful fighter in the European theatre.

Holsclaw’s unit, the 332nd Fighter Group, escorted American B-17 bombers over their Italian and German targets and provided close ground support for the British 8th Army in North Africa. The P-51 pilots fought off enemy fighters that were constantly attacking the American bombers. Holsclaw flew his fighter in seven major campaigns in the European war, completing 68 missions, including once flying 18 times in 20 days.

His most extraordinary flying mission, however, took place on July 18, 1944. That day his group of Mustangs fought off a force of about 300 enemy fighters over American bomber targets in Germany. Jack Holsclaw actions earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross that day. The citation read: “With complete disregard for his personal safety, Lieutenant Holsclaw with an outstanding display of aggressiveness and combat proficiency, destroyed two enemy fighters and forced the remainder to break off their organized attacks.” The DFC was one of 24 medals and citations Jack Holsclaw received during his military service.

After the war in Europe ended, Jack’s unit returned to the U.S., where he was an instructor at flight gunnery school in Texas. He soon decided to commit to a military career and was transferred into the regular army. Later he oversaw Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs on three university campuses. He returned to flight duty in Japan from 1954 to 1957. He also flew support missions between Japan and Vietnam during the early stages of the Vietnam War.

With the rank of lieutenant colonel, Jack Holsclaw retired from the U.S. Air Force on January 1, 1965. In his career as a civilian, Jack managed the Marin County Housing Authority in Northern California and later worked 10 years at the People’s National Bank in Bellevue, Washington. He retired a second time in 1983. Jack Holsclaw died at the age of 80 on April 7, 1998.