Jack Leon was born on October 24, 1923, in Columbus, Ohio. He initially served in the Coast Guard in Cleveland before joining the Army Air Forces in 1943. He trained at Coleman Flying School in Texas, beginning with single-engine aircraft such as the PT-19 before advancing to multi-engine training in early 1944, and was later sent to Liberal Army Airfield in Kansas for B-24 Liberator instruction. He served in the 837th Bomb Squadron, 487th Bomb Group, Heavy, as a First Lieutenant and Pilot in B-17G #44-8276 during World War II. Between January and March 1945, he and his crew completed twenty-three bombing missions.

On March 18, 1945, on their twenty-fourth mission, B-17G #44-8276 participated in a mission to bomb railroad marshalling yards in Berlin, Germany, but was severely damaged by German anti-aircraft fire just before the bomb run, forcing it to abandon the mission. As the aircraft became uncontrollable, the pilot attempted to reach a safer landing area; however, the crew was compelled to bail out about ten miles east of the Oder River near Massin, Germany (now Mosina, Poland). During the descent, Technical Sergeants Sunberg and Leonard A. Marino were killed when Russian Yak fighters strafed the parachuting airmen, while the remaining crew members landed safely.

1Lt Leon successfully bailed out and survived, later being recovered and briefly detained by Soviet forces before returning to Allied control. Currently, we don't have details about his post-war life, death, or burial location.

Source of information: americanarchive.iwm.org.uk, U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Reports (MACR)