John Dennis "Moon" Mullican was born on August 21, 1922, in McMinnville, Tennessee, the youngest child of William Alexander Mullican and Clara Fatima Womack. Moon had one older sister, Inez Elizabeth Mullican (b. 1918), and two older brothers, Grady Ross Mullican (b. 1909) and Nolen Denton Mullican (b. 1912).
On June 30, 1942, Moon enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He was admitted and began his training as a pilot. After completing his training, Moon was assigned to the 790th Bomb Squadron, 467th Bomb Group, which was stationed at RAF Rackheath in England. From here, Moon and his crew flew several missions against Germany.
During Moon's last mission, he managed to leave the aircraft in time. Moon was soon captured and eventually taken to Stalag Luft 12, where he remained for the rest of the war.
After the liberation, Moon returned to America, where he married Ida Bernita Higginbotham on November 23, 1946. Together they had two children.
In McMinnville, Tennessee, Moon founded his own small company, J.D. Mullican Construction Co. Here, Moon and two others were involved in a court case in 1980, in which he was sentenced to three months in prison and a $10,000 fine for "bribing or conspiring to bribe city officials" and "using facilities in interstate commerce to assist in bribery." In addition, Moon was also sentenced to 18 months of probation after his prison sentence for lying to a previous jury about this case.
John was a member of the McMinnville First Baptist Church where he served as a deacon and Sunday School teacher and was a former member of the McMinnville Noon Rotary Club as a Paul Harris Fellow.
Source of information: www.slodrenthe.nl, www.findagrave.com
Source of photo: www.teunispats.nl