John Dean Armstrong, aged 24, was born on August 10, 1917. He was the son of Guy Walter Armstrong and Margaret F. Allan Armstrong. In mid-1941, Armstrong, formerly in the U.S. Navy Reserve, was recruited among a small group of American pilots battling Japanese forces invading China. He was employed with the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO), which was officially termed the “American Volunteer Group,” (AVG) and popularly known as the “Flying Tigers.” The AVG consisted of three fighter squadrons, each with approximately 30 Curtiss P-40 single-seat aircraft. In September 1941, Armstrong was among a group of pilots to train with the Flying Tigers at Kyedaw Airfield, a British Royal Air Force airfield outside of Toungoo, Burma. Though most of the recruits were experienced pilots, none had seen combat. To prepare them, the AVG instated an aggressive training program, encouraging their pilots to carry out mock battles. Armstrong was killed during a training flight on Sept. 8, 1941, when his plane collided with another AVG member’s aircraft in midair.

In late December 1947, an American Graves Registration Service team recovered the remains of three members of the AVG. The remains were declared unidentifiable and were temporarily interred in the U.S. Military Cemetery at Barrackpore, India in January, 1948. The remains were eventually moved to Hawaii in an attempt to identify them, designated as X-633, X-634 and X-35, but identification was unsuccessful. They were reinterred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

In April 2016, due to advancements in forensic capabilities, X-633 was disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. DNA analysis and circumstantial evidence were used in the identification of his remains.

John Dean is now buried in the Fairlawn Burial Park, Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas, USA. He was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com