John W. Funk, Jr. was born on August 2, 1916. He was the son of John W. Funk and Mollie Kinner Funk. He resided in Madison County, Ohio prior to the war. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps as a Private on September 5, 1940, prior to the war, at Fort MacArthur, San Pedro, California. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a Financial Clerk and also as Divorced, without dependents. John served as a Second Lieutenant on C-87 #42-107259, 77th Squadron, 22nd Transport Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.

C-87 #42-107259 took off from Yangkai, China on August 9, 1943 enroute to Jorhat, India and was not heard from again. The plane was found in 2008 near Donli, Arunachal Pradesh, India. No remains were found however a local noted they were buried close to the wreckage. As of October, 2016 no one is believed to have returned to the site. He was declared "Missing in Action" on August 9, 1943 and is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph located in Kirkwood Cemetery, London, Madison County, Ohio.

John 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, www.abmc.gov