John Wilford Hanlon was born on September 12, 1922 in Ellis County, Oklahoma. He was the son of Thomas Patrick Hanlon and Gertrude Mary Meunier Hanlon. He graduated high school and attended one year of college.

John enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on 9/21/1942 at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. After completion of basic training he attended service training, earning his Air Crew wings. Afterwards, he was assigned to the Air Transport Command (ATC) in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations (Asiatic-Pacific Theater).

On March 27, 1944, a C-46 transport plane piloted by Captain Douglas R. Wight departed from their base in Kunming, China, on a flight to Sookerating, India. This mission was part of the massive allied resupply missions over the Himalayan Mountains, referred to as the "Flying the Hump." These missions were extremely dangerous due to the weather conditions that rapidly developed over the Himalayan Mountains as well as the threat of Japanese fighters. Hundred's of aircraft crashed into the mountains during the war and have never been recovered. John's plane was one of those planes. What happened to the crew is not known other than at some point one of the crewmen sent a radio message requesting a bearing, suggesting the aircraft was lost. There was no further communication with the crew. The aircraft never reached its destination, and searches during the war and after the war ended, failed to locate the crash site. John and the rest of the crew were listed as Missing in action and later declared dead.

His name is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines with a rosette placed on his name, to mark that the person now rests in a known gravesite. He is now buried in the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA in a common grave with his crew. He also has a cenotaph located in Harmon Cemetery, Harmon, Ellis County, Oklahoma.

John Wilford 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